Our Threads Have Crossed
by S.Cathryn15
Summary: When two girls are studying abroad for college they never dreamed of being caught up with the murder mystery duo. If thats not enough, they didnt even bother think that they would develop feelings toward either of them! (Almost all the Sherlock characters along with my OCs Sadie & Jane, Rated T because I have no idea where Im going with this.)
1. Chapter 1

"What about the one near the train tracks?" Jane asked as she pulled the edge of her sleeves down over her palms to keep warm.

"Too noisy." Sadie said, briefly crinkling her nose at the thought, "I would never be able to concentrate and neither would you." she took a sip of her tea and glanced out the window for a moment. Across from the small cafe they were in was nothing more than grey stone buildings. The street was relatively vacant, except for a cab sitting idly as two men jumped inside.

Sadie stared back at her blond friend across from her, thinking of a place where they could stay. They were both in London for school, Sadie had managed to convince the University to let them live away from the other students. She had claimed that they would be able to better understand the world in which they lived and would have a better chance of getting an education that way. While the real reason was that Sadie wasn't very good at working with others and Jane simply didn't want to leave her only friend.

When many people first meet the two they think they're a bit of an unlikely friendship. Sadie is strong, smart, and has even been described as a psycho, while Jane on the other hand is reserved, kind, and understanding. There had been others who had said that Sadie wasn't exactly the best person to go running off with, but Jane never listened to a word. After all, they only had each other.

"_What_?" Jane asked sarcastically, Sadie hadn't stopped staring at her for almost five minutes now.

"What?" Sadie asked, snapping out of her thoughts. Her blue eyes suddenly seemed to have woken up from their dead trance when she looked down at her empty cup of tea.

"You were staring at me, again." she said softer, and without any sense of sarcasm.

Now it was Jane's turn to stare. Sometimes Sadie was so hard to read, at a glance she seemed ordinary enough. Her dark brown wavy hair forced the eyes to stare at her pale face and sparkling blue eyes. No, she wasn't ordinary; she was a beautiful woman with a body to match. Yet, when anyone got close to her she would push them away. Making friends wasn't the problem for her, it was keeping them. Everyone she ever loved or cared for left her alone. Jane glanced down at the sapphire and diamond ring hanging from an old chain around Sadie's neck. That was the ring that seemed to be the worst of her sadness. Sadie's ex-boyfriend had given that to her as an early engagement ring after high school, before he left to join the army. After that he never came back or even sent a letter. No one knew what happened to him, but Sadie was convinced that he was just another person to have left her standing alone.

"I was thinking." Sadie finally answered as she leaned back into her chair, "I was thinking about where we should stay. Let's just check this street before we go back to the campus." without waiting, Sadie stood up and walked out of the cafe.

"And _how_ exactly are we going to know which flats are up for rent and which aren't?" Jane asked skeptically when she caught up to Sadie.

Sadie buttoned the front of her blue peacoat and flipped up the collar to protect her a bit more from the cold; Sadie glanced at her friend and smiled.

"We simply check the tags on the doors." without another word Sadie crossed the street and began to look at the names written under each door buzzer. Before an hour had passed they had made almost a complete round on the street.

"Why do we even bother? None of the others had an empty tag. Why would this one?" Jane complained as they approached the last building next to the cafe they just exited.

Sadie looked at the tags, then back at Jane and smiled devilishly, "'Why bother?' Well look." she pointed at the last tag on the door frame: empty.

"_Oh_ my **god**. Really? _Really?!_ Out of all the buildings! It was the one _right_ next to the cafe?" Jane threw her arms down and looked up toward the sky as if God was going to tell her why her luck was running so short.

"Sh." Sadie hushed her before knocking on the door. Barely a moment later had an older woman answered.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked staring down at Jane and Sadie. The woman seemed to have been in the middle of baking, there was a smudge of flour on the middle seam of her purple dress and a light layer of sweat had formed around her hairline.

"Hello, ma'am. We were just wondering if you had any other flats available. I noticed that the last tag here seems to be empty." Sadie said, briefly pointing at the last name tag.

"Well yes, but it needs fixed up and its rather dingy," the woman at the door made a face when she said dingy, "but I can still show it to you if you'd like." The woman smiled warmly and gestured the ladies inside.

"Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you." Sadie said as she took a step in. Something about the space felt rather off, as if there was construction being done or something had just been demolished.

"My name is Mrs. Hudson," she introduced herself; "the last flat available is in the basement. Follow me."

The space that Mrs. Hudson had showed them was barely big enough for one person. Let alone two. Still, it seemed appealing and was just a walking distance from the University. All the room really needed was another coat of paint and a good dusting (or scrubbing), and the window let in enough natural sunlight to keep them satisfied.

"When would we be allowed to move in?" Sadie asked casually as they walked back trhough the narrow hallway.

"Well, it would be best if the flat was properly cleaned and then you ladies could move in when you like."

"Would this weekend be alright with you?" Jane suddenly piped in.

"That's only a few days away." Mrs. Hudson said, looking a bit shocked.

"That's alright, Mrs. Hudson. I don't have class tomorrow so I can come in to help clean." Sadie offered. Hoping that would get them into their flat and away from the University campus faster.

"Oh, well. I guess that would be alright. I'll have your name on the door by Friday." She smiled warmly at them, "Oh, before you go would either of you like to have some tea or a biscuit?"

"No thank you ma'am. We really should get going." Sadie answered as she started to step out the door and back into the cold London air.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow, and for heaven's sakes, quit calling me ma'am it's too formal." She called as Jane and Sadie began to walk back toward the campus.

"I wonder who else lives there with us." Jane pondered aloud only a few blocks from Baker Street.

"Mrs. Hudson. As well as two individuals by the names of Holmes and Watson." Sadie said not even glancing toward her friend.

"How do you know that? Mrs. Hudson didn't even tell us." Jane asked

"I read the tags." Sadie smirked as they reached the University campus, "I wonder if my playing the piano will be a bother any of them." Sadie thought aloud. After all, they were new; she didn't want to be the annoying neighbor.

* * *

Im going to keep this short, it probably wont be longer than 5 chapters.

But comments would still be nice. I want to know if it seems interesting enough.


	2. Chapter 2

"Right then," Sadie said as she stood up from scrubbing the now spotless fireplace, "I think that should about do it." She scanned the flat for any remaining dirt marks, thankfully, there were none.

The floor had been scrubbed and an old tapestry rug was now covering the majority of the old wood. The walls had been cleaned and repainted to a deep red, except for one wall with paisley wallpaper on it. Mrs. Hudson had insisted that there was wallpaper on at least one of them otherwise it wouldn't match the rest of her flats. The fireplace was still a solid grey, but the old mirror that was left was now hanging above it; this caused the small room to look a tad bigger. The windows had been cleaned spotless and the curtains were one of the first things to go, now all the girls had to do was bring their things in. Sadie smiled to herself, she was proud of her work; especially since she did most of it alone.

"Dear, I'm sorry. I almost forgot to tell you." Mrs. Hudson said walking into the room, not bothering to knock, "There isn't a place to put an oven or any sort of kitchen supplies so you can feel free to use mine. The bathroom right down the hall here is yours too." She pointed behind her. "It was supposed to be a spare for me, but I never use it now that my husband is gone." She gave a small wink and a sweet devilish smile.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson, that's very kind of you." Sadie smiled at her, "I'm afraid that my friend and I are still very new to London. Where is the nearest market exactly?" she asked as she threw the old rag she was using into the bucket near the door.

"There's one right down the street and just a few blocks over." Mrs. Hudson smiled and clasped her hands in front of her, "But since you're new I can do a bit of shopping for you girls, just make me a list. I go every Monday, but it'll be just this once. I'm not your housekeeper."

"Yes ma'am," Sadie said nodding, as she took a step out of the room and into the hall, "Er, I mean Mrs. Hudson. That's very kind of you, I appreciate it."

The two women walked back to the foyer where Sadie's coat was lying on the chair near the steps. As she wrapped her scarf around her neck, Sadie turned to Mrs. Hudson and asked;

"If you don't mind my asking, who else is living with us?" the older woman smiled and pointed toward the ceiling with her thumb.

"Over that way is Mrs. Turner; she's got all sorts there." She laughed, "But here, living on the floor above us, is Mister Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. They're an odd couple, but they mean well."

"Couple?" Sadie asked under her breath, that wasn't something that was usually seen back in the states. "And if it's not too bold to ask; where are they now? I mean, I didn't hear them upstairs yesterday when we were here, and I haven't heard a thing at all today, other than your television that is."

"Well that's to be expected when you're in the basement, but don't worry, you'll hear them soon enough. They're working on a case right now, a string of bombings or something of the like. John usually comes home before Sherlock does. He works late most days when there's a case. When they don't have a case, oh you'll know alright." Mrs. Hudson rolled her eyes at the thought, "Well, dearie," she said with a sigh as she opened the door for Sadie, "it was nice to have your help today. I suppose you and your friend will be back on Saturday with your things?"

"Yes. Yes we will. I can thank you enough for the space. We both had thought we were out of luck." Sadie said with a smile, she could feel this conversation ending, and it couldn't come soon enough. She was never the best with conversations, especially without Jane at her side to change the subject when necessary.

Sadie took a step out onto the sidewalk, said goodbye to Mrs. Hudson and began to walk back toward the University. Still, she couldn't stop thinking about the other tenants living with them.

'_A couple?_' she thought, _'That's very rare, but then again this isn't America.'_

That was one of the first things she had noticed when moving to London, the people here were different. They kept their noses out of your business and were very accepting to things like homosexuality, unlike many people back home. As her mind was chewing over the comparisons of England versus America, a thought had suddenly popped into her head;

'_Strange, a homosexual couple, working on a terroristic murder case together.' That_ was definitely something that seemed quite odd to her.

Now she really couldn't wait to meet them.

* * *

"Hey, look at this." Jane said once Sadie had thrown her things down on the futon in their dorm.

"What?" Jane handed Sadie a few papers printed from an online newspaper, they were articles about the recent bombings that Mrs. Hudson had mentioned. One killing twelve people, claiming to be a gas explosion, and then another on Baker Street, "Mrs. Hudson mentioned these to me," Sadie said kicking a box out of her way so she could sit, "Our neighbors John and Sherlock are working on this case right now."

"Yeah, well that's not all." Jane said flipping her damp hair over her shoulder and clicking around on her laptop, "Both of these men have a website, well, Sherlock has a website. John has a blog."

"That has nothing to do with their case. Actually, I think you're wasting your time. This isn't our case. If you want a case go and figure out how many of these goddamn boxes we can fit into a cab." Sadie said slapping her hand on a box.

"No," Jane said, now typing on her laptop, "I want to find out about these two. I don't want to get murdered in the middle of the night because these two idiots got in trouble or something."

"Nonsense!" Sadie said nearly laughing at her friend who was so engrossed in her 'research' she barely even noticed that Sadie had gotten up and was now sitting at her keyboard, "If we get murdered it'll only be because we're guilty by association, and if we don't associate we don't die. I don't plan on being all too social with them, only Mrs. Hudson, that's kind of why we're moving away from this campus." Jane shrugged at her, not wanting to respond because she knew Sadie was right, again. Still, Sadie didn't like how she was acting, so she slammed her fingers down on a chord causing her friend glare up at her over her screen. Jane scrunched her brows together causing her head to wrinkle. When Jane finally looked back down, Sadie hit another chord even louder this time. Then again, and again, until Jane finally slammed her laptop shut and unplugged the vile machine.

"There! Now you can't annoy the entire campus with your _music_." Jane puffed out her chest a bit, feeling like she triumphed over her comrade. Sadie smiled, laughing at how silly Jane looked puffing out her already large busted chest. Sadie had many faults and one of her top ten would have been adding salt to a wound, which made an appearance when Sadie hit yet another chord on her instrument. The sound of the artificial piano echoed across the bare dorm. Jane stared at her, shoulders falling, chest deflating, and jaw nearly dropping.

"Batteries." Sadie smiled and tapped the hard plastic of the keyboard.

* * *

Hello again, thank you for reading this!

I PROMISE the next chapter will have John and Sherlock, these first two chapters were to introduce my two characters so that you guys arent like "Huh? Why would that girl DO that?"

Okay, the next chapter will be up next week-ish, its going to be much longer, all of these chapters will follow the episodes pretty closely, but I will probably change a few things here or there.

Oh and this will continue after the Reichenbach Fall episode, but not too much longer after that.

Okay thanks again! :)


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, now remember," Jane said turning to her friend and patting down her curly mess of hair, "be nice. If you can't be nice then just be quiet, don't fight; don't even do anything that might offend them." Jane was pointing at her like a mother to a child.

"Well you're bringing over some of your cooking so that will offend them as soon as you walk in the door." Sadie said looking at the plate of cookies in Jane's hands. Sadie glanced back up at her friend; she was in a red fitted V-neck sweater that showed off her curves and breasts. Her hair was brushed and neatly placed on her shoulders; she was actually wearing makeup for once, not just mascara, actual makeup. She could also smell a light perfume, hanging in the air, like flowers or sugar, but perhaps it was just the cookies. Still, Sadie couldn't help but smile, there they were standing at the bottom of the steps, Jane dressed as a woman and herself in her usual loose blouse, black skinny jeans, and black hiking boots.

"You're staring again. What is it this time?" Jane asked rolling her eyes and looking toward the entry door. She had the plate of cookies balanced on one hand like a waitress as she waited for Sadie's smart remark about her big nose, or breasts, or makeup.

"Nothing," Sadie said with a shrug, "I just wish I had made more of an effort this time." Jane looked back at Sadie and smiled, "I look like I should be hunting, or singing in_ Beauty and the Beast_," Sadie said as they started to climb the steps toward 221B, "No one drinks like Gaston, no one fights like Gaston!" she sung causing Jane to stifle a laugh.

"Sh." she said nearly elbowing Sadie in the gut. The door for the flat was opened, the girls looked at each other for a moment, pausing on the steps, and then Jane reached in and knocked on the opened door. A man with blonde hair stood up from his black leather chair and gave them a quizzical look. "Hi," Jane said with a big smile, "we just moved in here, we're downstairs at 221C."

"Oh, hello," the man said with a smile. His odd expression was gone now and he seemed more at ease, although he glanced toward the kitchen area for a brief moment.

"My name's Jane and this is Sadie. We're students studying abroad at the University a few blocks down. We just came to say hello and to drop off some cookies for you." Jane smiled as Sadie remained silent, as she was told.

Sadie was quiet, but not stupid. Her eyes scanned the room, at a glance it was a mess; to her, organized chaos. The mantle held various knick-knacks like a skull, papers, books, and both book shelves were filled to the brim. Most of the books on the shelves looked as if they hadn't been touched since they moved in, still she could tell that certain ones had actually been used by the angle and the amount of dust. Next she scanned the table, filled with papers, folders, binders, and envelopes, mostly from cases she assumed. The couch was relatively clean and vacant, although the wall behind it had a yellow smiling face and bullet holes scattered upon it. Sadie took a step in stride with Jane as John, she presumed, ushered them both in. He offered them tea and they graciously accepted.

"What are you staring at?" Jane whispered to Sadie while John was in the kitchen.

"I'm reading," Sadie answered, "These two aren't police, or detective-"

"Yes, I know. I did my research." Jane smiled and puffed out her chest like she had done in the dorm a few days ago.

"John is a doctor, and the other one I'm guessing just helps solve the cases? I've never seen anything like this. It's not detective work, but not police work. It seems like an imaginary job if you ask me." Sadie swiped her fingers over a folder collecting dust as she sat on the couch next to her friend.

"You're right, but that doesn't change the fact that John is a very nice man, and actually he's kind of cute." Jane made a face like a middle school girl looking at pictures in a magazine. Sadie's only response was to scrunch up her nose in childish protest. John strode back into the room carrying a platter with three cups and a tea pot on top; he seemed oblivious to the entire conversation that had occurred just moments before.

"So," he started, "you two are from America?" John asked as he began to pour the tea.

"Yes, John, they are." Came a deep voice from the kitchen doorway, John looked up above the girls' heads as if he saw something very disappointing.

"And you must be Sherlock," Jane said standing to shake his hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you." Sherlock ignored Jane and sat down in a chair across the room. John muttered what sounded like a 'dear God' under his breath.

"I apologize," he said, "he doesn't have the best, um, timing." John looked sincerely sorry for the girls to have to meet Sherlock that way.

"Oh, no," Jane said sitting back down, and taking a sip of tea, "it's alright." Sadie glanced over at Jane who seemed at bit hurt by Sherlock's coldness toward her. Still, she worked through it, which made Sadie smile inwardly.

"What are you studying at the University?" John asked, trying to start up a conversation again.

"The blond, Jane, is studying, therapy and, Sadie, the brunette-" he paused, squinting his eyes a bit. A moment passed and he was still silent, he stood up from his chair with his hands in prayer formation at his lips. John smiled and looked at Sherlock who was slowly walking toward Sadie, "the brunette," he said again; this time his eyes were looking all over her body, from her hands to the ends of her pants, "film."

"Close," Sadie said with a smile, "photography." Sherlock stomped his foot like a child and turned toward the mirror on the mantle, "I do use film though. I work with both the digital aspect and the darkroom aspect. So you were correct."

"Ah, but not correct enough." He turned again and pointed at Jane, "You, you're from east coast, America, you enjoy theater. You come from a broken family and your parents split up not too long ago, you're close friends with her because you didn't have any one to turn to. Well perhaps you had your mother, but by the looks of you that is highly unlikely, your mother probably felt as if she was less of a woman than you because you've dealt with more in your life than she has in hers. So, Sadie here was your next choice, you followed her here so that you wouldn't lose her too. Oh, how touching, a friendship that actually lasts." Sherlock was talking fast and was becoming more and more cruel to Jane. Sadie wasn't having it, she squared out her shoulders and retorted;

"Oh well then, Mr. Holmes, if you're so great and wonderful then read me. Tell me my story." Sadie knew that he would be able to do it; she had no doubt that he could, but she would have rather had him picking on her than have him hurt Jane. Sherlock took a deep breath and almost laughed when he began to talk.

"You; you come from a broken family as well, not split, but dysfunctional. What family isn't? Ah well yours is different, your father was never there for you, your siblings out shone you and you never felt as if you were good enough for anyone. Then this wonderful boy comes along and sweeps you off your feet. He proposes to you, that's why you kept the ring, but he obviously got cold feet and left you because you're not wearing a wedding band. You're too young to be married anyway, and you're here with her. Perhaps he left you because you're not attractive enough? Wrong. He left you because you're not emotional enough, you get quiet too much, and no man wants to make love that." He finished it off with a beat, which to Sadie didn't sound like a beat at all, more like a punch to the chest.

"You're wrong." Sadie almost whispered, "my sibling never out shone me, both of his legs were broken when he was 22, he needed them more than me. I wasn't left at the altar either." She stood up from her seat on the couch and took a step toward the tall man, "we weren't supposed to get married until after the war. Until he came back to me," Sadie was beginning to choke back tears, "but you know what? He never came back. He was killed trying to save his fellow soldiers. So you listen to me, Mr. Holmes, you're not always right; there are three examples for you. So quit acting like you're so perfect and superior, because you're not." With that Sadie walked out of the flat and down the steps to 221C, she could hear Jane apologizing as she closed the door behind her.

"Sadie?" Jane called a few moments later as she opened the door, "I'm sorry about that, I shouldn't have made you go, I know that you didn't want to be there, but I forced you anyway."

"It's alright," Sadie said, wiping her tears, "it's just that, he's really good at reading people." Both girls laughed, shaking away the tears and guilt that they had ruined everything between them and the boys.

"John and I are going out for tea tonight." Jane said suddenly, "It's not a date. I just felt bad for everything and well, I _do_ want to get to know him better." She smiled sheepishly at her friend.

"Oh, I know you do. Just be careful," Sadie said with a smile, "Sherlock may be following you two and recording everything you say!" both girls laughed again, for no reason at all. Perhaps it was because they were happy to have gotten away from the University, but more likely because they had gotten away from their crazy neighbor.

* * *

That night after Jane had left; Sadie was sitting at her keyboard practicing some of her music with the door to her flat open so the light from the hall would brighten up the room. On any normal day she would have been practicing with her headphones plugged in, but since everything was still packed away she didn't have the energy to do so. She was playing anything and everything she had memorized, from Adele, to Pachelbel to The Used.

She was so caught up in her music that she didn't head Mrs. Hudson turn of the television and go to bed and she didn't hear the creak of the steps as someone slowly walked down them. As she had finished up a jazz tune, she didn't hear the click of a case or the slight squeak of strings. Instead she kept playing, this time it was Cannon in D; as she was about to play the first main notes of the song, a violin slowly and softly begun to play them for her.

Anyone else would have stopped and investigated to see who was playing, but instead she wanted to keep going and hear the rest of the song. She had never played a duet before, with anyone. As she continued, the violin seemed to lead and follow, lead and follow, it sounded so harmonious she couldn't help but smile to herself. Soon she noticed that the violin was growing louder, by the time the song had ended it sounded as if the player was right outside her door. Sadie stood from her bench and approached the entry way; before she could take a step into the hall her tall neighbor had taken a quick side-step in front of her. He looked down at her; his stare not faltering for a moment, she did the same. She was never intimidated by men like him; it was never the intimidation effect that scared her.

"Here to insult me again, I presume." She said with a slight smile, as if she had won the battle.

"No," he said clearing his throat, "I'm actually here to apologize." His voice began to fade at the word apologize. He dropped his head and bit and didn't make eye contact now, Sadie smiled. He was very childish when it came to dealing with people.

"Really, huh, I thought our little duet there was your apology." she smiled at him as he glanced up at her through the curls of his hair, "I'm not like most girls," she almost whispered, "I don't hold grudges, I can't stay mad for long."

"Well then," he said lifting his head and clearing his throat, "Miss-"

"Lawson."

"Miss. Lawson, welcome to 221 Baker Street." His face went back to its almost unreadable mask and with that he turned and walked back up the steps to 221B.

* * *

Not long after Sherlock went to his flat and Sadie prepared herself for bed, Jane had returned with John. She for almost two hours straight Jane hadn't stopped talking about him and how much of a gentleman he was, but she was angry that he had a girlfriend. Sadie laughed at her friend; she hadn't seen her like this in years. She never talked about men like this, in fact she never really talked about men.

After discussing and dissecting most of Jane's night with John the girls were lying awake in bed both thinking and reliving the latter part of their days. Soon, Sadie's phone was sent into a fit of lights and vibrations as it received a text from an anonymous number.

"Wonder who that could be?" Sadie said, the only other person to text her was in the same room as her. She unlocked her phone and read the text message aloud, "'John goes through more women than tea. This one won't last.' Signed SH. What?" Sadie laughed, nearly missing the next text that popped up on her screen from the same number "'PS Cannon in D is a favorite of mine.' Signed SH." This time Sadie didn't laugh. She knew that this wasn't a prank number.

"Oh my God that's Sherlock!" Jane yelled nearly jumping off of her futon and onto Sadie, "SH is Sherlock! What does he mean by Cannon in D? Is that some perverse British term or something?"

"No, you fool, it's just a song and this is more than likely a kid pranking us. Now go to sleep, we both have class tomorrow morning." Sadie flipped herself onto her side and pretended to fall asleep, but she knew she wasn't getting any rest tonight; her mind was already beginning to race.

* * *

Thanks fro reading!

Reviews and commments would be nice, I want to know if you guys like it so far.

The next chapter will have The Woman in it, and maybe Jess stirs up a little trouble for Sherlock (because, you know, he doesnt have enough already)!

Oh and the next chapter should be up by the middle of next week since I work almost everyday.


	4. A Note from the Author

Hey guys, its me, the author!

I was just wondering if you guys were enjoying my story so far.  
I havent had many reviews (only 1 actually) and I would like to know if you like where this is going.  
Give me ideas, tell me if you like the plot, even if you simply say 'yay, I like it' I dont want to keep writing if none of the readers here are interested!

Thats all. :)

Thanks!


	5. Chapter 4 (Pt I)

"Hey Jane!" Sadie called to her friend who was putting on her makeup in the bathroom down the hall.

"Yeah?" she called back, "what's up?" rather than continuing their call and response, Sadie walked down the hall toward her friend; she leaned on the doorframe of the outdated bathroom.

"Sherlock just sent me this." Sadie said flashing her phone to Jane, an address and the words 'You're a journalist' with the signature SH was loaded on the screen, "Should I go?" Sadie scrunched up her face causing her nose to wrinkle like an old bull dogs.

"You're the one who said you wouldn't associate. I don't think you should go. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Just the other day Sherlock was dragged away wearing only a bed sheet to God-knows-where. Now he's texting you asking you to come to this random address and pretend to be a journalist? That doesn't sound like a smart idea to me." Jane was scolding her again, like how she had done when they first met John and Sherlock

Sadie's phone buzzed again, she unlocked the message and read;

"Come if inconvenient." Sadie looked back at her friend who was staring at her with knitted brows, "I'm going." Jane huffed and rolled her eyes, "If I'm not back by tonight, come looking for me." Without saying another word, Sadie left the flat with only her jacket and camera.

After being dropped off a few streets away, Sadie was nearly running toward the address she was told, fearing that she was behind. As she neared the street she could hear the familiar voices of John and Sherlock talking, almost yelling, she walked toward them.

"Punch me in the face." She heard Sherlock say.

"What?" John answered making the same quizzical look that he had first given Jane and Sadie. Sadie laughed quietly to herself at the sight of these two. Just as she had reached them, Sherlock slapped John hard across the face and without a moment's hesitation John had punched him back. He took a moment to shake out his fist then turned and put Sherlock in a tight headlock. Sadie quickly grabbed John by the back of his jacket collar before he could do anymore damage to Sherlock's face.

"Okay, that's enough." She said watching John brush himself off. Sherlock stood up and fixed his clothes a bit while gasping for air, "Now why did you call me here?"

"I-" Sherlock coughed "I need you to take pictures of her building, inside and out. Say you're a journalist working on a story." he gingerly began to touch his bleeding cheek with the tips of his fingers, "Make something up." He concluded.

"Here," Sadie said handing him a tissue from her bag, "don't touch it with your fingers, it could get infected."

Sadie took as many pictures as possible of the outside of the building. It looked like the rest of the ones on the street, white steps, white pillars with black numbers; nothing was out of the ordinary about this property. Once feeling satisfied with her work she knocked twice on the large oak door.

"Hello? Can I help you?" a young female voice called out through the speaker.

"Yes," Sadie started in her best Southern American accent, "I'm a student at the University here and I was just workin' on a paper about the growin' community, here In London, both foreigners and natives alike." _What am I doing? _Sadie thought, _they're never going to buy this._ Then the door was opened by a red-haired girl.

"The Woman will be right with you, she's consulting with a client right now." The girl let her in and showed her to the kitchen. _The Woman and who was her client? Surely it can't be Sherlock. The Woman sounds like a dominatrix or something._ Sadie thought, not realizing that she was correct. Upon entering the large kitchen area, she noticed John filling up a bowl of water. She eyed him as he turned around, he gave a slight nod and said hello. He winked as he walked by her, making sure that the red-head didn't see their exchange.

Sadie leaned on the kitchen's marble countertop and stared at the young woman who was now turning on the kettle for tea, she was of average build, but Sadie could tell that she could hold her own.

"Can I get you any tea or water while you wait?" the girl asked, Sadie suddenly got an overwhelming feeling that something bad was going to happen and a lump began to form in her throat.

"No, thank ya, Miss." Sadie said almost forgetting her phony accent again, "I can wait here if that's alright, you don't need to watch over me." The girl nodded, but it was obvious that she didn't trust her. Still, she left Sadie alone in the kitchen; once the light click of her heels had faded away Sadie began to snap off photos of the kitchen. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so she continued on down the hallway, taking three to five pictures of every room. She had made almost a full circle around the lower level when she noticed John slipping out of the front room, the only room she had not taken any photos of.

"Find anything?" he whispered, as he lit the ends of a magazine on fire.

"No, nothing, Baker Street seems more suspicious." she said snapping off more pictures, this time pointing her camera toward the second level. Then she looked back at John and snapped a picture of him making an interesting face at the now flaming papers in his grasp.

She could hear Sherlock yelling for John to turn off the now active smoke alarm, but before either of them had a chance to act a single shot was fired into the device. John and Sadie whirled around to find two men walking toward them;

"Thank you." John said flatly, referring to the alarm, as he and Sadie put their hands in the air. Sadie felt the lump in her throat disappear and was replaced with a now dry mouth.

The men didn't say a word; instead they restrained the two and suddenly another man with a receding hairline came quickly down the steps. He kicked the foyer door in and started yelling orders off at the men around them. The man who was gripping onto John had handed him off to Sadie's captor and went over to a woman who was already in the room. The man who had John and Sadie's arms had shoved them to their knees in front of the white couch.

Sadie glanced around the room; to her right was John, and to his right was a woman. The Woman, she assumed, behind them were two men, Sherlock was standing almost directly in front of her with his hands in the air. The man who was firing off orders was in front of Sherlock, now yelling orders to him. Sadie suddenly noticed that he wasn't wearing his trademark jacket, instead The Woman was. For reasons unknown to her conscious mind, the image of her wearing his jacket had suddenly planted a seed of jealousy in her mind.

"Don't you want me on the floor too?" Sherlock asked, almost sarcastically. Sadie had her head bowed, but was still able to watch the entire scene transpire in front of her.

"No sir, I want you to open the safe." The man retorted quickly and seriously, he pointed the gun toward Sherlock.

"American, interesting," Sherlock said ignoring the gun. _Don't do this now_ Sadie thought _you're going to get us all killed._ "Why would you care?" he glanced back at the woman in his jacket, Sadie felt another pang of jealousy. She lowered her eyes and she suddenly became aware of the gun being pushed into the back of her head, behind her ear to be exact _very professional_ she thought. Her eyes flicked toward John next to her, there was a gun pointed on him as well. Suddenly, her mind began to race; all those years in the theater had to pay off for something. She remembered the stage fighting as well as the self-defense classes. She remembered that if a gun is pointed toward you go for the wrist or elbow. Never grab the gun. Ever. Her mind began racing through all the fight techniques they went over during the classes and began to line up the ones she may have to use now. Suddenly the man yelled;

"Mr. Archer, at the count of three, _shoot_ Mister Watson."

"What?!" John yelled, Sadie stiffened, trying to blend in the best she could; she had remained completely silent throughout this whole ordeal. She glanced up at Sherlock who's eyes flicked from her to John, "One," the man paused and stared at Sherlock, "Two," another pause, then he looked at John and Sadie, "What about this girl? What if I shot her instead?" the man behind her grabbed her by her hair and lifting her head up, she could see Sherlock clearly now, he didn't seem fazed. _I'm going to die. I'm going to get shot and he's not going to care and Jane is going to suffer._ Sadie stared at Sherlock as the man began to count. "One," he paused, "two," he paused, "three-" Sadie made a soft high-pitched scream and closed her eyes.


	6. Chapter 4 (Pt II)

"No! Wait!" Sherlock yelled, he quickly turned toward the safe, he was muttering something as he suddenly began pressing in numbers. The man behind Sadie let go of her hair, she fell to her hands, and glanced over to John who had a worried look in his eyes. She gave a light nod, saying that she was alright.

"Vatican cameos!" Sherlock suddenly yelled as he ducked out of the way of a firing gun within the safe. John quickly ducked then tackled the man who was still grasping the collar of Sadie's shirt. Sadie turned and tore her collar away; she twisted the man's wrist so quickly that she heard a pop and his grip loosened on the gun. John had her captor in a tight headlock; she jumped to her feet with the gun in her hand and pointed it at the man's now pale white face.

"That's enough, John." She said, John finally let go and stared at the man for a moment. He didn't move, in fact, Sadie wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore. John slowly got to his feet, never taking his eyes off the man.

"Thank you, you were very _observant_." The Woman said coyly.

"Observant?" John asked bewildered, finally taking his eyes off the man and now looking at The Woman in Sherlock's jacket.

"I'm flattered." She smiled at him.

"Don't be." Sherlock retorted with a straight face.

"Flattered?" John asked. Still confused, perhaps not as confused as Sadie who couldn't take her eyes off The Woman. She barely even noticed John and Sherlock run out of the room, toward the front door. Sadie watched as The Woman ignored her presence and scurried over to the safe. She seemed displeased at what she found inside, for a split second her jealousy had faded and was replaced with sympathy.

"Check the rest of the house," Sherlock said once he returned, "see how they got in." with that, Sadie threw the gun on the couch and left the room. This gave her a chance to scour the second level; she bounded up the steps and found John checking the pulse of the red haired woman who had first let them in.

"Oh, God." Sadie whispered, running over toward the woman, "Is she alright?"

"Sherlock!" John called before answering, "I'm not sure, but I think so." He glanced toward her before leaning over the girl's body again, this time checking to see if she was breathing. Both Sadie and John got up at the same time, John walked toward the adjoining bathroom while Sadie started to go through the dresser drawers. One drawer contained nylons; she closed it, and was about to rummage through the next, but was cut off by Sherlock walking into the room.

"Must've come in through here." John said walking back in from the bathroom.

"Clearly." He said as he eyed Sadie, who was standing suspiciously by the dresser. She slowly shut the drawer behind her as The Woman walked into the room, she didn't notice Sadie, and this time she was distracted by the unconscious woman.

"Don't worry, she's Just out cold." John said reassuringly.

"God knows she's used to that." The Woman said sarcastically, "There's a back door, better check it Dr. Watson." With that The Woman walked past him and toward the dresser. Sadie sidestepped out of her way and glanced at Sherlock who nodded to John. He then looked at her and motioned for her to follow. She nodded and left the room, instead she didn't follow John, and she stayed out in the hall and listened to their conversation.

She heard Sherlock mentioned that her trap just killed a man; she retorted that he would have killed her instead. Sadie rolled her eyes at how dramatic this woman's life must be. Suddenly she heard Sherlock in panic, and then a harsh slap rang though the room. Sadie was not prepared for what he was about to witness; The Woman was standing over Sherlock begging for her phone. When Sherlock refused to give it to her she grabbed her riding crop and began to hit him repeatedly with it.

Before Sadie knew what she was doing she ran down the steps and toward the back of the house to find John, screaming his name the whole way down. Once she reached him she grabbed him by his sleeve and dragged him toward the second level, he kept asking what was going on and what the hurry was, but Sadie was too much in shock to answer. Once they reached the master bedroom again The Woman had finished beating Sherlock and was now walking toward the bathroom in which the CIA men had entered.

"Jesus," John remarked as he saw Sherlock on the floor, "what are you doing?"

"He'll sleep for a few hours. Make sure he doesn't choke on his own vomit it makes for a very unattractive cause." The Woman said coolly as she sat on the edge of the window in the bathroom. Sadie took one look at Sherlock and suddenly became livid; she wasn't going to let this woman escape. Not like this. It was too easy.

"What did you give him? Sherlock?" John was going into doctor mode as he started to circle his convulsing friend.

"He'll be fine." The Woman said, now looking at Sadie for the first time. She felt as if she was looking straight into the eyes of the enemy. She didn't like it, she was ready to kill. "I've used it on loads of my friends. No, I was wrong about him. He did know where to look." She smiled devilishly at Sadie. She didn't like that.

"For what, what are you talking about?" John asked. Sadie had almost forgotten that he was even in the room. She was only watching The Woman. That was her target, and she planned to go after it.

"The key code to my safe." The Woman remarked.

"What? What was it?" John was still confused as when they first arrived. If Sadie wasn't so angry, she probably would have laughed at him.

"Shall I tell him?" She asked, looking at Sadie then to Sherlock, "My measurements." With that she sprung backwards out the window and into the alley. In that same moment Sadie sprinted out of the room, not paying any attention to John calling after her, she was going to get this woman. As soon as Sadie had opened the door a grey haired man wearing aviators was standing inches away from her face.

"Uh, hello." He said suspiciously, "I'm Greg Lestrade."

"Hi," Sadie said cutting him off with a huff, she knew it was too late, The Woman was probably already gone by now. "I'm Sadie Lawson. I'm a friend of John and Sherlock's; they're both on the second floor, master bedroom." The man laughed, showing his straight, white teeth;

"They would be." He shook his head and walked past Sadie and into the house. Sadie took a step outside, she needed the air anyway. If this was the life she had accidentally walked into she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to handle it. Jane was right again, she shouldn't have come, but she simply couldn't pass up this chance, it was too much of an adventure for her.

"You shouldn't hang around them much." A woman said approaching her, she was the same build as the red head, except she had darker skin and black hair.

"So, I've noticed." She retorted, looking the woman in the eye with a slight grin.

"Donovan!" Lestrade called from the second floor window, "You're never going to believe this!" he smiled and pulled out what looked to be his mobile phone.

"Get a hobby, it'll keep you sane." Donovan said walking away; Sadie simply smiled and pointed at the camera that was still hanging around her neck.

* * *

_Hello again!_  
_Thank you for reading. Jane will be in the next chapter more, I swear. She's Sadie's logic, her John if you will, we do need her! Plus the next chapter will have the Christmas party! Of course the girls will become friends with Molly, because she's just so adorable, who wouldnt want to be friends with her?_  
_Please review? _  
_Thanks! :)_


	7. Chapter 5

Sadie ended up walking the entire way back to the flat; she was too caught up in her own mind to catch a cab. The whole way back she couldn't seem to grasp why Sherlock even asked her there in the first place, it was obvious that she was of no use to him. She wasn't like John; she had no previous experience like he did. As for Sherlock, she couldn't hold a candle to him; he was intelligent and quick on his feet. She was nothing in comparison. Hell, she was nothing like The Woman either. _The Woman,_ she thought, as she turned the corner onto Baker Street, _who _is_ she?_

"Nice to see you're back. It's not like I was starting to worry or anything." Jane said as soon as Sadie walked in the room. Sadie sighed and hung her things on the hooks by the door; she kicked off her shoes and flopped down on her futon of a bed. She didn't have the energy to remark at the sarcastic comment. "Is everything alright?" Jane asked again, this time actually taking notice that her friend was more tired than usual.

"You were right. Well, _I_ was right." Sadie propped her head up on her hand to face her friend sitting at the small table by the window, "I'm going to get killed if I associate myself with these two."

"We're." Jane said leaning back in the wooden chair that gave a light creak under her weight.

"What?" Sadie asked, too mentally drained to try and figure out what she meant.

"_We're_ going to get killed if we associate with these two." Jane smiled, leveling her eyes with her friend. "I'm not going to let you go gallivanting off with them alone. I can't pay rent by myself and I sure as hell am not explaining this to the University." Sadie smiled sheepishly;

"Thanks Jane. What would I do without you?" she asked rhetorically as she rolled over, her back facing her friend as well as the main light source in the room.

"Die." She remarked with the sarcasm back in her voice. Jane turned back to her work on her computer, all her school papers were strewn on the small table acting as a desk. She was trying to finish her essay before Mrs. Hudson came in to offer them dinner, again. (Every time she would claim that she's not their house keeper.) Jane smiled at the thought and leaned back in her chair again. She stretched her arms out above her head and pulled her hair up off her neck, stifling a yawn, she went back to work.

Just over an hour later there was a light knock on the door along with Mrs. Hudson's soft 'who-who' as she entered the room. Jane had just finished up her now ten paged essay and hit save when the older woman arrived. Again, offering them dinner. Sadie was still asleep, and neither of the girls had thought about what they were going to eat that day, so Jane accepted the kind offer.

* * *

After waking Sadie up and eating dinner with Mrs. Hudson, Jane was back to sitting in front of her laptop. This time she had no work to do and was simply staring at the bright screen. Sadie was too engrossed in her piano to notice that Jane hadn't typed a word or opened a tab since she sat down.

"We need Jobs." Jane suddenly blurted out, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"What?" Sadie asked, as she pulled off her oversized headphones and set them on the top of her keyboard.

"We need jobs." Jane repeated, this time not so sudden. She looked toward her dark haired friend who was unplugging her instrument and winding up the chords. "We're not going to be able to pay the rent without them."

"Do you still have money in your bank account?" Sadie asked, not taking her eyes off the small task in front of her.

"Yes, but it's not going to last us until the end of the year, maybe not even until the end of the semester." She said, as her friend approached her. Sadie leaned over Jane and was looking at the blank laptop screen. She squinted a little at the brightness of it and seemed puzzled.

"You have nothing loaded. You haven't been working on anything? What about that essay that's due tomorrow?" she asked, firing off one question after another without a pause.

"I finished it while you were sleeping this afternoon." Jane said craning her neck to see her face. Sadie ignored her and loaded a search engine on the screen, "You still didn't answer my question."

"You had a question?" Sadie retorted, "Hm, sounded more like a statement to me." Sadie typed 'The Woman' in the search bar and hit enter.

"You _know _what I meant. How are we going to pay for all of this?" Jane asked, not paying any attention as to what Sadie was doing on her laptop. Sadie clicked on the first link that came up; it was The Woman's webpage.

"Remember how I worked eight hours almost every day for two years in retail?" Sadie asked, as she clicked through the pages on The Woman's website. She couldn't help but feel inadequate in comparison to this woman. She was lean, almost an athletic build, perfect skin and _very_ experienced, while Sadie was average, large breasted, curvy, and flawed.

"Yes." Jane said slowly, she still hadn't noticed the images of the dominatrix on her screen; she was still trying to figure out how to pay the rent.

"I never spent a penny. We'll be fine." Sadie smiled, both at her friend and what she had found on the screen; the name of The Woman, Irene Adler.

"_What_?!" Jane yelled, "When were you planning on telling me you have-" Jane looked away from her friend, and muttered under her breath, obviously figuring out the total money Sadie had in her possession. "over $30,000 in your account? Wait, no. That transfers over to about £24,000. Why haven't you told me any of this? When were you planning on informing me?" in the midst of her temper tantrum Jane had finally noticed the half-nude photos of Irene Adler on her screen.

"I was only going to tell you, when you asked about it." Sadie said exiting out of the screen, "And before you ask about those pictures, her name is Irene Adler; I got to meet her today. That's the address Sherlock texted me." Sadie stood up from leaning over her friend; she stared down at Jane, expecting some sort of backlash from her. Instead she fought the look of shock on her face and nodded.

"And how did that go?" Jane was obviously confused. She couldn't help but imagine the worst, from the pictures she had just seen it looked as if she was either a dominatrix or an exotic dancer. Either way she didn't approve.

"Well you know, she nearly killed Sherlock, me, and John." She answered, sitting down on her futon, attempting to straighten out the sheets around her, "Sherlock got the worst of it, don't worry. John is fine." She smiled and laid down on the uncomfortable mattress.

"Great." Jane rolled her eyes at the thought, "Hey, how about we just concentrate on our school work right now. Finals are coming up soon and if we don't pass, the University will definitely make us move back."

"Is that an ultimatum or a challenge?" Sadie remarked, sleep was quickly taking over her again.

"Both." Jane answered walking over to her dresser and pulling out a set of pajamas. She briefly changed in front of her friend, not caring about privacy. Soon she was curling up under the covers in her own uncomfortable futon and falling asleep.

* * *

Jane was in a very light sleep when she heard a loud thump; she had initially thought it was Sadie rolling out of bed, like she had done many times before, but it wasn't. The noise had come from the hallway out front. She quietly slipped on her red silk robe and tip-toed out into the hall. She walked down past their bathroom and out into the entrance area, at first the light was too dim to see anything, but once her eyes adjusted she saw John struggling to get Sherlock to his feet.

"John?" Jane asked, still a little groggy.

"Oh, uhm, hello, Jane." John said, in the middle of pulling Sherlock to his feet by his right arm. Sherlock wasn't responding too well to the idea of standing, in fact, it didn't seem as if he was responding at all.

"Let me help you." She said, walking toward him.

"No, no. I think I'm fine." John said with a smile, but he dropped Sherlock to the floor again, causing another thump. Sherlock moved a bit and gave a light cough, still, not as responsive as necessary. "Okay, maybe I do need some help. He's heavier than he looks." John looked at Jane with big eyes, she couldn't say no to that. Not as if she was planning to anyway.

John wrapped Sherlock's right arm around his neck again as Jane did the same with the left. As soon as they had reached the first landing, Sherlock began to open his eyes and mumble. Both John and Jane stopped, not knowing what to do. John still wasn't sure if the drug Irene had given him was going to cause him to act violent or not, instead Sherlock looked ad Jane and then to John with drug induced eyes and smiled groggily. He gave a small groan like a tired animal and then slipped back into unconsciousness.

The last set of steps was the most difficult; the hallway was a bit narrower, especially for three people. So Jane and john had to go up one at a time, practically dragging Sherlock along with them. Once inside the duo attempted to put Sherlock in bed as best they could, by the time they made it to his room they were both almost too tired to pull down the sheets on his bed.

"He'll complain if we don't." Jane said shrugging.

"He'll complain no matter what." John said. Jane could practically hear him roll his eyes. Still John pulled down the sheets with his free hand and they both shoved their tall friend under his covers to the best of their ability. Sherlock began to regain some consciousness as he rolled over on his side, pulling the sheets over his shoulder a bit.

"Good enough." Jane said with a shrug. She looked at John; he gave a smug look that said 'oh well' and led Jane out of the room.

"Thanks for your help." John said once they were in the living room.

"It's not a problem." She said with a smile. She suddenly felt awkward standing in front of John in her pajamas and robe, "I, uh, should probably go back downstairs. I have class in the morning."

"Oh, right. Well, uhm, thanks again." John looked a little flustered and Jane could notice a light blush forming on his cheeks. He smiled at her and pulled her in for small hug. Jane smiled and buried her face into his jacket. As they pulled away, she had to consciously stop herself from believing that he liked her the way she did for him. Still, that didn't stop her from smelling his subtle cologne during the hug, or noticing how his hands were wrapped low around her waist. She was beginning to really fall for this man, and she knew that was deadly.

"Good night." She said, quickly stepping out of their flat. Before she was down to the first landing of the stairs, John called after her.

"Jane?" he quietly called, she turned and saw him standing at the top of the steps with his hand in his pocket, "Would you want to go out for dinner sometime this week?" he smiled genuinely at her.

She stared back at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. Part of her was screaming and begging to go with him, but the other half knew better than that. The rational thinking side of her said no, he was too much older, she had too much school work, and she had just told Sadie that they shouldn't associate with him. She stood there at the landing, staring back at him with a look of confliction on her face.

"That would be lovely, John, it really would, but I can't. I've got too much school work, with finals and everything." Her answer hurt not only him, but herself as well.

"Oh. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." John said, avoiding eye contact with her this time.

"No, I'm sorry. Good night, John." she had barely made it to the bottom of the steps before the tears were building up. She took a deep breath and composed herself, she was getting in too deep, and she couldn't have feelings like this. _Not here, not now._ _Maybe after college,_ she thought _but I can't deal with this right now._ Jane rubbed her face with her hands, a pitiful attempt to wash away all the conflicting feelings inside of her.

She was turning into an emotional pot of stupid.

* * *

_MOLLY WILL BE IN THE NEXT ONE LIKE I PROMISED. _  
_Okay, sorry, these chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Ill try to keep them short after chapter 6, but I cant promise anything._


	8. Chapter 6

The next time John and Jane had seen each other for an extended period of time was during the Christmas party in 221B. By this time finals were over and it was winter break for both of the girls, Sadie had wanted to go back to the States to visit with her family, but seeing that Jane had no family to go back to she stayed with her.

"Thanks again, for not leaving me." Jane said as Sadie began curling her straight blonde hair into a hot roller. They were in the outdated bathroom again. Jane was sitting on the edge of the bath tub as Sadie was perched on the lid of the toilet, plucking the ceramic hot rollers out of their container and neatly piling them onto Jane's head.

"You didn't leave me when I wanted to move away from the University, which obviously is either one of the greatest or dumbest ideas I've ever had. I mean, what would I do without you? I can't just leave you." Sadie smiled at her friend although she couldn't see her. Still, it wasn't often Sadie gave Jane any form of kind words, they weren't her strong point.

"Do you think John's new girlfriend will be there?" Jane asked a few moments later, as she bit a hangnail off her thumb. "I mean, I don't care, but you know how it is."

"If you don't care then it shouldn't be awkward." Sadie placed the last roller in Jane's hair; she reached over and unplugged the case.

"You know what I mean, Sadie. Don't make this difficult, I'm nervous. I've never been to a holiday party like this. Hell, I've never even been to a holiday party before. You _know_ my family never did anything like this, my dad never gave a shit and my mom was too drunk to notice." Sadie could tell that her friend's nerves were getting the better of her.

"She probably will, but I would imagine that we won't be the only guests." Sadie sat on the edge of the tub, "But if we _are_ the only guests then we'll stay long enough to get wasted and then leave, okay?" Jane laughed at her friend,

"Alright, but last time you got drunk you thought that you were Queen of the Dragons and punched a fat guy in his man-boob." Jane could barely finish the end of her sentence she was laughing so hard.

"Eh, well, that happens sometimes. You know?" Sadie smiled; she never remembered anything from her drunken escapades. "Come help me wrap the gifts while your rollers cool."

* * *

"Do you ever get really nervous before you walk into a crowded room?" Jane asked as they stood at the bottom of the steps in the entry way, she was holding on to a small bag of gifts. Sadie was fixing her own mess of curls in the mirror; it was already turning into a mane of hair. Some parts were beginning to flatten, others were frizzing out; she made an attempt to pin them up but it was no use, she made a noise of contempt at her reflection. "You did theater. Didn't you ever get nervous right before a show?" Jess continued, leaning over to look up the steps.

"Yes." Sadie said checking the bag of gifts again; she couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something. "I always, get nervous. My trick is that I don't show it." Sadie counted the gifts; both girls had gotten their neighbors something, two gifts for Sherlock, two for John, and two for Mrs. Hudson. Everything was there and they both were ready, suddenly the felling of forgetfulness was fading away and her own nervous jitters were arriving in her belly.

"I don't want to go. I'd rather just go out to a bar or something, let's go." Jane turned and began to walk toward the front door.

"No, you don't. Mrs. Hudson invited us, we stayed here in London, we are going to this party whether you like it or not." Sadie grabbed Jane by the arm and began pulling her up the steps. "You look good, by the way," Sadie said suddenly, trying to calm her friend a bit, "you look like a pin-up model with those curls. John's going to be kicking himself for not asking you out."

"Uh, thanks." Jane said, realizing that she never told Sadie that he _had_ asked her out a little over a month ago. It wasn't that she wanted to keep her friend in the dark; she just never had the time to tell her since they were both always busy.

As the two neared the doorway of 221B flat they could hear Mrs. Hudson asking Sherlock to put on a pair of antlers, the girls smiled at the thought and walked in.

"Now that would be an interesting sight to see." Sadie said referring to the antlers.

"I'm so happy you girls made it!" Mrs. Hudson exclaimed as she stood from her seat by the fireplace. She had a glass of white wine in her hand and ushered the two into the room, "I was beginning to think that you had changed your mind and went back to the States."

"No, no. We would much rather stay here and see London during the holidays. It really is quite beautiful here." Sadie explained as Jane handed the small bag of gifts to her. She placed them on the table in front of the couch. Jane silently scurried off into the kitchen to get a drink; it was only then that Sadie had noticed a tall thin woman practically sitting on John's lap a few feet in front of her. John whispered something to the woman as Jane walked by. Not long after, the woman stood up to let him go; he made a bee-line toward the kitchen.

"I'm glad you could make it." Sherlock said approaching Sadie with crooked smile.

"Me too, but I almost didn't find the place without you texting me an address." Sadie cringed inwardly at her horrible attempt at flirting.

"Ah, well next time I'll be sure to inform you. It would be a shame to have you miss it." He smiled again, this time with a slight gleam in his eye, but perhaps Sadie had just imagined it. He walked over to the window and lifted the violin to his chin and began to play _We Wish You a Merry Christmas_.

Sadie felt a slight blush on her cheeks, and was still embarrassed of her rusty flirting abilities. In an attempt to calm herself she went into the kitchen in search of a drink; as she turned the corner she saw John and Jane talking in the corner, like herself they both seemed to be blushing.

"Looking for a drink?" asked a voice to her right. It was the man she had met outside Irene's house.

"Yes, of course I am." Sadie said with a smile, he poured her a glass of wine. "Lestrade, is it?"

"You can call me Greg." He said handing her the glass, "So, how do you two know this odd couple?" he waved a finger at John and Sherlock as John walked back into the living room toward Mrs. Hudson.

"We're neighbors." She answered noticing that Jane was now at her side. "We're renting out the basement flat…well, room. There's really nothing much to it." Jane laughed lightly at the thought of their small room downstairs.

"_Room_? More like closet space." Jane remarked, taking a long sip from her bottle of Heineken.

"I heard that!" Mrs. Hudson called from her seat across from John. All three laughed at her quick remark.

"I heard Mrs. Hudson say you two are from America? What brings you here?" he asked, genuinely interested in the girls' story.

"We're studying abroad at the University a few blocks over. Sadie's in photography and journalism, I'm still undecided, but I'm looking into chemistry and psychology. And before you ask we, well, _she_ somehow managed to convince the University to let us live off campus. How she did it, I will never know." Jane answered him as Sherlock was finishing up his tune. Lestrade made a high pitched whistle just as everyone in the room clapped at his little performance. Jane noticed that Sherlock looked right at Sadie before he took his bow.

"I wish you could have worn the antlers." Sadie heard Mrs. Hudson remarked again, still not getting anywhere with her request. Sherlock glanced at Sadie again then back to the older woman.

"Some things are best left to the imagination, Mrs. Hudson." He said and then turned to the woman who was offering him a platter of cookies, "Oh no thank you Sarah."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He's not good with names." John jumped in, trying to move her away from Sherlock. Sadie stifled a laugh at the scene; she glanced at Jane who had a small smirk on her face also.

Sherlock had said the wrong name on purpose.

"No, no, no. I can get this." he waved the bow in the air in front of him, "No, Sarah was the doctor, and then there was the one with the spots, and then there was the one with the nose, and then, who was after the boring teacher?" Sherlock asked, obviously knowing the answer already.

"Nobody." the woman answered, crossing her arms; the universal sign that she was feeling uncomfortable.

"Oh, Jeanette!" Sherlock smiled at her and then glanced back at the girls; he gave a wink to Jane who looked as if she obviously missed something. "Ah, process of elimination."

Just then another girl had walked into the room; she had a big smile on her face and a Christmas ribbon in her hair. She was carrying two large bags of gifts on her arms. Neither Jane nor Sadie had ever met her before; they simply smiled and waved at her although she didn't notice. Her eyes were locked on to Sherlock and weren't going to be peeled off him any times soon, Sherlock noticed this. John rose from his chair again to welcome her in (since it was obvious that Sherlock wasn't going to). She took off her jacket to reveal a skin tight black dress, everyone in the room took notice; except Sherlock this time. Jane stared at her, and then to John who was having trouble composing himself. If she had followed her feelings for John she would have believed that this girl was her competition, but instead she took a final gulp of her beer and went to grab another one.

"Having a Christmas drink are we?" the girl asked, glancing at Jane and Sadie, and then to Mrs. Hudson.

"It's the one day of the year, where the boys have to be nice to me, so it's almost worth it." Mrs. Hudson lifted her glass to the notion. Sadie watched as the girl became suddenly lost when Sherlock didn't give her the attention she wanted, instead he went over to John's laptop.

"Molly, do you want a drink?" Lestrade asked, she turned and nodded, grateful for the distraction from the awkward moment at hand.

"How's the hip?" Molly asked Mrs. Hudson.

"Oh it's atrocious, but thanks for asking." The older woman waved her hand in the air, suggesting that it wasn't as big of a deal as it was.

"I've seen much worse, but then again I do post mortems." Molly laughed at her own joke, as did Sadie and Jane, while the rest of the room was silent. "Oh, God, sorry."

"Don't make jokes, Molly." Sherlock retorted, not amused in the slightest.

"I guess no one else is a nerdy as us." Jane muttered to Sadie under her breath. She smiled at her friend and glanced around the room at the other guests. "When do you think would be a good time to leave?" Jane whispered.

"We _just_ got here, Jane, and besides we're neighbors normally they stay a little later." She looked toward Jane who didn't seem happy about the idea of having to stay later, "Okay, twenty minutes, tops."

"Is that an ultimatum or a challenge?" Jane asked, mocking Sadie.

"I haven't decided yet." Sadie said as she watched Molly attempt to make small talk with all of the guests in the room. Every time she would say something Sherlock would shoot her down; Jane saw this as well and wasn't pleased about it either.

"I see you've got a new boyfriend, Molly and you're serious about him." Sherlock said turning away from the laptop screen and toward Molly with a fake smile.

"Huh? Sorry, what?" Molly seemed genuinely confused. Jane had a very uneasy feeling in her gut as if something very bad was about to happen. She nudged Sadie with her elbow; she nodded, recognizing the same feeling.

"In fact you're seeing him this very night, and you're giving him a gift." Sherlock seemed pleased with his deduction. Both John and Lestrade tried to stop him, but it was no use. "Oh, come on, surely you all have seen the present at the top of the bag." He stood up and walked toward Molly who clutched her glass to her chest looking like a frightened child. Jane nudged Sadie again, harder this time. "Perfectly wrapped with a bow" Sherlock continued, "all the others are slap-dash at best."

"Sadie, do something." Jane whispered she didn't want Molly to have to suffer through this kind of embarrassment in front of everyone. It was bad enough that he could make deductions like this by himself, but when he told them aloud it only made it worse.

"Someone special then." He said picking up the gift, Sadie took a Step toward him, he didn't notice. "The shade of red echoes the lipstick either and unconscious decision or one that she's deliberately trying to acknowledge. Either way Miss. Hooper's got _love_ on her mind."

"Sherlock stop." Sadie pleaded, but he didn't even miss a beat.

"She's serious about him by the fact that she's giving him a gift at all; though it would suggest long-term hopes over forlorn. The fact that she's seeing him tonight is evident from her make-up and what she's wearing; obviously trying to compensate for the size of her mouth and breasts." Sherlock opened the small notecard that was taped onto the package. As soon as he looked at it his smug look melted off his face. Sadie felt her heart sink for the poor girl.

"You always say such horrible things every time, always." Molly said to him, she was slowly shrinking away, looking like she was fighting back tears.

Sherlock blinked a few times and turned away for a moment, not quite sure what to do. Then he turned back to Molly and said;

"I am sorry. Forgive me. Merry Christmas, Molly Hooper." and kissed her on the cheek; John stared at the two and then toward Jane and Sadie as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Suddenly an out of place erotic moan echoed through the room. Startled, Molly tried to explain that it wasn't her. "No, it was me." Sherlock admitted.

"My God, _really_?" Lestrade asked from behind the two girls.

"My _phone_." Sherlock said, pulling his phone out from the breast pocket in his jacket.

"Fifty-seven?" John asked as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Sorry, what?" Sherlock asked, putting Molly's gift on the table and walking over to the mantle.

"Fifty-seven of those texts; the ones I've heard." John said again as Sherlock scoured the mantle then lifted up a small red box that was sitting near the Santa hat.

"Excuse me." he said suddenly and walked past the guests and into his room. Molly never took her eyes off of him as she took a small sip of her wine, still clutching the glass to her breasts.

"Molly," Lestrade interjected, breaking the silence in the room, "have you met Jane and Sadie? They're John and Sherlock's neighbors from downstairs."

"Hello," Sadie said shaking Molly's hand, "I'm Sadie, this is Jane."

"It's very nice to meet you." Molly said her bright smile was now creeping its way back on to her face; soon the guests in the small room were beginning to talk again.

"So, how do you know John and Sherlock?" Jane asked.

"I work with Sherlock sometimes at the hospital, and I know John _from_ Sherlock. So, yeah." She said with a big, quirky smile. She glanced toward Sherlock's closed bedroom door and sighed.

"Hey, you know what," Jane said catching Molly's attention again, "we should exchange numbers. That way we can go out for lunch or something." Molly handed her phone over to Jane as she punched in her number as well as Sadie's.

"Thanks. I, um, am usually working at the hospital, but I never really get to hang out with my friends, so, yeah. We should. It would be fun." She smiled and nodded, as if to reassure herself that the two girls wanted to be her friends. Not long after Sherlock came back into the room with his jacket.

"If everyone will pardon me, I have to go out for a moment." He said putting on his jacket and leaving the flat without another word.

* * *

_Phew, sorry that was so long! Please review though, or tell me that you survived through all that! :)_  
_Im going to try and finish up _The Scandal in Belgravia_ in the next chapter so that we can move on to my favorite episode -_ The Hound of Baskerville!  
_The next chapter may or may not have some cute moments with either John/Jane or Sadie/Sherlock...or both!_  
_Thanks for all your reviews by the way! It makes me really happy to know that everyone is enjoying my work!_


	9. Chapter 7 (Pt I)

_This chapter is split into two parts because its over 10 pages long and I dont want to be throwing super long chapters at you guys.  
So anyway! __This chapter is going to be written a little differently. I want to show, not only Jane and Sadie's personal feelings, but also Sherlock and John's as well.  
Sorry for the delay. This one took me much longer to write than I had expected._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Sadie hadn't seen either of her male neighbors until days after Sherlock's swift exit on Christmas. She liked to think that it was simply fate (and perhaps schoolwork) that kept them apart, but fate had other ideas and she had no school work to speak of.

Still, that didn't keep her from hiding out in the University's theater nearly every day as she played on the grand piano that was sitting to the left of the stage. She had no sheet music, instead she was playing off memory, and everything she could remember was being pounded out through her slender fingers and onto the polished ivory keys. When she finally stopped there was a faint echo that remained in the vast room for a moment before fading away like smoke. It was only after she let the sounds fall to silence that she decided to check her phone, it was nearly 9:00 at night and she had received several text messages from both Jane and Sherlock.

The ones from Sherlock read as follows:

**Don't come back to Baker Street until I say. – SH**

** There was a break-in. Everything is fine. – SH**

** It's safe. – SH**

On the other hand there was Jane, whose messages weren't nearly as calm and made it seem as if the world had collapsed.

**Come home now. You'll never believe what happened.**

** Baker Street was broken into! Mrs. Hudson is hurt. John is taking care of her and Sherlock is throwing a man out of a window! I can't fucking believe this is how things work her in London!**

** Sadie answer me. Hello? You need to come home now. Quit trying to be cool and get your ass over here!**

** SADIE ANSWER ME! This isn't funny anymore. I'll send Lestrade out to find you!**

Sadie laughed at her friend's pathetic anger as she grabbed her effects and left the University. Not feeling the urge to walk more than a few feet, she hailed a cab and went back to her flat. When the cab had let her off she scurried across the street toward Sherlock and Lestrade who were standing on the sidewalk outside of Speedy's. Sherlock looked at her and gave a slight smile, trying not to show the relief that rushed over him when he saw that she was alright.

"And exactly how many times _did_ he fall out the window?" Lestrade asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

"It's all a bit of a blur, Detective Inspector. I lost count." Sherlock retorted, knowing full well that his answer was as good as any. Lestrade nodded, admitting defeat to the tall man for the day by accepting this answer. Before leaving, he gave a nod toward Sadie, acknowledging her existence; she smiled and waved a leather clad hand goodbye.

"Is this about Irene again?" Sadie asked, once Lestrade's police cruiser had pulled away. She didn't bother to hide the fact that she had enough research on The Woman to learn her name.

"Her mobile." Sherlock answered, turning on his heel to head back toward Mr. Hudson's flat. He paused a moment which gave Sadie a chance to catch up with his stride, "It was the American man. He broke in and took Mrs. Hudson as a hostage. He took nothing," he paused momentarily once they reached Mrs. Hudson's door, "not that he had the time to." He quickly added as an afterthought.

Sherlock looked down at Sadie, as she hunched her shoulders up toward her ears to keep herself warm in the chilly London air; he narrowed his eyes the same way Lestrade had done moments earlier "I need to talk to you tonight, in private." This threw her off her guard for a moment, but she quickly realized that he probably wanted her help on the case.

"Yes, of course." She answered as he opened the door for her.

"She'll have to sleep upstairs in our flat for tonight. We'll have to look after her." John said as soon as Sherlock walked in. Sadie glanced at the three already in the room. Jane was sitting at the table across from Mrs. Hudson; John was standing behind her with his hands on the back of the chair, looking protective over both the women. Mrs. Hudson was on the other side of the table, her back toward the wall. Her hair and clothes were askew and there was a small gash in her right cheek, she shook her head and murmured a soft 'no' at the idea of having to stay in 221B with them.

"She's fine." Sherlock stated as he opened the refrigerator door; scouring the inside for something to eat. He pulled out two pastries and offered the smaller one to Sadie

"No, she's not. Look at her. She's got to take some time _away_ from Baker Street. She can go and stay with her sister, Doctor's orders." John retorted, obviously not pleased with the way Sherlock was acting.

"Don't be absurd." Sherlock said taking a large bite. Jane was glaring at him; he wasn't taking it as seriously as she wanted him to.

"She's in shock, for God's sake and all over some bloody stupid camera phone. Where is it anyway?" John's irritation seemed to melt when he asked this, Jane's did not. She still shot daggers toward Sherlock; she hated this idea of letting friends get hurt all for the sake of some experiment.

"Safest place I know." Sherlock said taking a step toward Mrs. Hudson. She reached down the front of her shirt and revealed the camera phone that was so sought after.

"You left it in the pocket of your second best dressing gown, you clot. I managed to sneak it out when they thought I was having a cry." She laughed again, this time more genuinely.

"Thank you." Sherlock said with a smile, he then turned toward John "Shame on you john Watson."

"Shame on _me_?!" John asked, shocked that the blame was now, somehow, turned on him.

"Mrs. Hudson _leave_ Baker Street? England would fall." Sherlock wrapped his arm around the older woman's shoulders and gave her a tight squeeze. She smiled warmly, knowing that she was loved.

"I cannot believe this!" Jane suddenly blurted. Everyone in the room was surprised by her outburst, except Sadie, who had kept a watchful eye on her the entire time.

"Jane, what's wrong?" John asked, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder. Jane was still angry; she still couldn't believe that everyone was suddenly fine with what had happened. She couldn't understand that they just let Sherlock get away with not caring about Mrs. Hudson or the fact that the burglars could have killed them all if they wanted.

"This!" She waved her arm around the room, "Is what's wrong. Everyone here is fine with the fact that Mrs. Hudson nearly got killed over a phone. All because of _him_." She pointed at Sherlock. "Well, shit! What if I was home too? Or John? Or Sadie? What if they had come and _killed_ us. Not just taken us hostage? What then?" she was furious now, her face was beginning to turn red and her sight was wavering a bit, as if she could faint from her own fury.

"Jane, darling, calm down, I'll make you a cup of tea." Mrs. Hudson offered, but as she was about to stand Sherlock gently pushed her back into her chair. Jane glared at Sherlock and then to Sadie. She stood and approached her friend who was standing near the refrigerator.

"I hope you're happy." Her voice was low, but still loud enough for everyone in the quiet room to hear her. Sadie was afraid to look down at her angry friend, but did anyway, trying not to show that Jane's fury was affecting her "I hope your happy that this stupid idea of yours is-" she paused, not sure if she was able to say the rest, "the worst thing that's _ever_ happened to me. I hope you realize that I can leave just as easily as anyone."

"No. You won't." Sadie answered, her voice wavering from the idea of her only friend leaving her alone in the middle of London. Jane took a step back and looked at Sadie, she huffed and left the kitchen without another word; moments later they heard the front door close with a slam. Mrs. Hudson let out a small coo, the kind that would match a dove's.

"I am truly sorry about her actions, as well as my own. Forgive me." Sadie said, then left the kitchen and headed toward 221C.

* * *

Sadie was woke an hour later to discover a soft creaking noise in her room, not wanting to irritate Jane she slowly and silently rolled over on her futon. She opened her eyes toward the desk chair that made the creaking noise; it was empty. She soon realized that the creaking was not of the chair, but a floorboard near her piano. Jane never ventured over to Sadie's side of the room, not even after a fight; still she heard her ring on its chain being moved around on the table near her feet.

"Why do you wear this?" came a soft whisper, not to her, but as if the speaker was pondering aloud. She knew that voice: Sherlock.

"As a reminder," She answered, sitting up to face him. His head snapped toward her, obviously startled at the fact she was awake _and_ heard him. "As a reminder that every time I let myself get close to someone they get hurt, even Jane, obviously." She shrugged as she held her knees close to her chest. She watched him as he gently placed the ring back on the end table, noticing how small it looked in his large hands.

"Don't worry about her." He said walking toward the window and peering out it for a moment before pulling the old wooden desk chair over toward her. Sadie studied him, taking note that he had his coat on inside her flat, "She's upstairs with John having a drink." he answered with a bit of sly enthusiasm.

"Ah, I see." She nodded, "So, what did you want to talk to me about? And _why_ do you have your coat on inside?"

"I was out. Now," he paused "say you're a woman with a good income, with secrets, and you need to hide. What would-"

"So, say I'm Irene Adler. What would I do?" she cut him off, mid-sentence.

"Yes." He said. Letting her get away with her interruption, in fact he was amused. It wasn't often someone with the slightest bit of intellect interrupted him.

Sadie leaned her head back in thought as she stretched out her legs away from her chest and let them dangle off the mattress. She imagined herself as Irene, strong, clever, independent and dangerous. She was quick on her feet and always knew the right thing to say. She could manipulate men with not only her looks, but with her wit as well, she liked to play games with them; Sherlock in particular. Sadie knew that if she was her she would most definitely want to play with his mind; to see if he was as smart as he thought. She would even want to seduce him.

"Did she tell you anything that she liked, in men?" Sadie asked, feeling as if she was beginning to understand Irene's game.

"She said "brainy's the new sexy"." He answered; his eyes never once broke from her.

"Well that's easy. If I were Miss Adler, I would want to play games with you." She said leaning forward, with a devilish smile.

"Yes, yes, I know that. That's what she's doing already. I want to know why and how I can beat her." He hated the idea that he was coming to her for advice, especially now that he had just vocally admitted that to her. The consulting detective couldn't even figure out a simple woman.

"Play with her." Sadie smiled, the idea probably seemed erotic and silly to him, but it was what he needed to do, "Play her game. She wants to seduce you, let her. She thinks, no, she _believes_, that once a woman seduces a man she can get him to do anything she wants. You're going to have to prove that to her if you want to beat her. Text her back and show off, you're good at that. If you make it believable enough, then she will undoubtedly be seduced _by_ _you_."

He raised an eyebrow at the idea, seeming to doubt her at first, but then realized that she wasn't like any other woman who _thought_ she was smart; she really was.

"That's brilliant." He said aloud "I'm beginning to sound like John." He smirked, and then remembered a fact he had learned earlier in the day. "You claim that this works on all women?" Sadie nodded, "Perhaps it's the fact that John seems so innocent and oblivious, but today she informed him that she is, in fact, gay."

"Well, Mr. Holmes, I'm still standing by my word and when I'm right, you can add that you can turn gay women straight onto your website." She said with a wink, he grinned at the thought of putting that right next to the 43 different types of tobacco. "And," she continued, "You'll have the code to her phone before the end of the week." This time she was serious. He leveled his eyes with hers and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short by Jane who flung the door open singing Christmas tunes very loudly and very off-key.

"I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!" she exclaimed as she flopped face-first into her futon. A silent moment passed and Jane still hadn't gotten up, it was obvious that she had one too many drinks with John. Her nerves had most definitely gotten a hold of her again and when that happened she would drink and drink until the world around her began to blur like a Monet painting.

"That signals the end of this little meeting of ours." Sadie said, getting up out of her make-shift bed, she walked over to the door and ushered Sherlock out. She shut the door behind her so that it was just the two of them out in the hall together. "I'm glad I could help." She said with a smile.

"Thank you." He said, sounding just as genuine as he did when he spoke to Mrs. Hudson, "Happy New Year." He seemed nervous when he said this then without warning he tipped her chin back and kissed her on the lips. It barely lasted a moment and Sadie had to fight to not turn into a puddle on the floor. She couldn't remember a kiss that had made her entire body tingle and turn into butterflies. Sherlock pulled away, his eyes locked onto hers, hoping that he hadn't offended her by giving into his lust.

"And that's exactly how you properly seduce a woman." She said smiling warmly at him as she opened the door to her flat, "Happy New Year, Sherlock."


	10. Chapter 7 (Pt II)

A few days after the fight, the kiss, and the hangover, Jane had received a text from Molly;

**Why is Sherlock xraying a phone?**

Then another;

**Its a womans phone**

Jane answered with a single text message stating that Molly had no need to worry about the woman belonging to that phone; he was simply working on a case. Knowing that she had calmed Molly she looked over at Sadie who was pounding away at the keys on her electric piano. Feeling too lazy to actually get up and walk a few feet over toward her friend she caught her attention by waving her arms in the air like a madwoman.

"What?" Sadie asked taking her headphones off.

"Your boyfriend was being mean to Molly again. Go yell at him." She said with a smile, Sadie stood from her seat behind the piano and turned off the device. Ever since she had told Jane about the kiss between her and Sherlock she hadn't stopped calling him her boyfriend, thankfully she never brought it up in front of him.

"Sherlock isn't my boyfriend. Should I start calling John _your_ boyfriend?" she replied scrunching up her face like a child with her hands on her hips. The same night Sherlock had kissed Sadie was the same night that John had told Jane he broke up with his girlfriend, and kissed her goodnight.

"That would be fine with me!" Jane said flipping her hair over her shoulder and resuming to her work back on her laptop. Sadie made a low grumbling noise in her throat, she wanted to see Sherlock, but she knew that it was pointless to tell him to be kind to the people he needed to be civil with.

"Fine, I'll go talk to him." She said finally.

Sadie knocked lightly on the open door of 221B, John poked his head out from the kitchen and greeted her with a smile;

"Sherlock's in his room." He winked. She couldn't believe it, either John was just being flirty (which was highly unlikely) or Jane had told him about the kiss (which was much more likely). "Hey, Sherlock." He said walking toward Sherlock's room trying to get his attention; Sadie followed suit.

"We have a client." Sherlock said flatly, what little emotion he had displayed when he turned toward John and Sadie was that which could have been compared to inconvenience and almost boredom.

"What in your bedroom?" John joked as he walked through the doorway, "Ooh." He said realizing that this wasn't a joke, he smiled slightly. He couldn't believe the amount of women who were suddenly flocking toward his flatmate. Sadie poked her head through the door to see Irene Alder sleeping in Sherlock's bed. She had to admit there was a slight pang of jealousy that ran through her gut when she saw this.

"You have to go." Sherlock suddenly said turning toward her. He slipped past John, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began leading her toward the door. The entire time Sadie was trying to formulate a protest, but she couldn't. She knew that she could _not_ be there if he was going to play her game. "I'm sorry." He said when they reached the door, he gave her a slight reassuring squeeze, "I'll text you." Then he did something that she should have expected, but hoped he wouldn't; he shut the door in her face.

* * *

Jane couldn't help but notice how her friend's actions seemed to have changed since the morning when she had sent her up to talk to Sherlock.

"Hey, I'm going out with John tonight, for dinner." Jane said as she walked into their flat wearing only a towel, her damp blond hair clung to her shoulders that looked like vines were climbing up her neck to strangle her.

"That's nice." Sadie said, barely looking up from Jane's laptop. She was doing research, this time not only on Irene, but also Sherlock and John. She was going to find out as much as she possibly could on them. She had decided that if she was going to begin helping with cases, she wasn't going to let them hide secrets from her. She wasn't going to get hurt this time.

"Is everything alright? You've been acting strange." Jane inquired as she began clothing herself.

"I'm fine. Just doing a little research..." she paused, checking to see if Jane was actually paying any attention to her, "on John and Sherlock."

"Oh. Have you found anything interesting?" she asked as she turned around to face Sadie, she was only in a bra and underpants, which seemed comical to Sadie.

"Eh." She shrugged and began to relay some of the information back to her, "John was shot in Iraq and he had a limp for a while, he runs a blog about the different cases him and Sherlock solve. Sherlock is Sherlock, there isn't too much on him. He has his own website, as you know, which is a little boring. I also found that he has a brother; Mycroft. He must have been the man we saw when we first moved in. He works for the British government; if I'm not mistaken he _might_ have been the one to bring Sherlock to his current case. Irene, The Woman, does have some interesting photos of someone important on her phone. She's obviously in all this for publicity as well as security. She's not asking for money, which shows that she's very scared of something, or someone. John also mentions a man named Moriarty, but I can't find anything about him and he only mentions him."

"Maybe it's just a code for something?" Jane inquired as she began drying off her hair, not bothering to inform Sadie that she didn't even know about some of the topics she just brushed through.

"Maybe." She muttered as she scrolled through more pages on the computer. She was so caught up in her work she didn't notice that Jane had gotten dressed and ready until she heard her grab her keys.

"I'm leaving now; I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait up." She said as she began to open the door to leave.

"I'm going out tonight too." Sadie said flipping the computer screen down and standing up from her seat in front of the desk. She stretched out her arms as she said "I'm heading to the University for a bit."

"Its winter break, the University is closed." Jane said letting go of the doorknob. She was confused; Sadie didn't even want to _live_ on campus. Why would she want to go there when it was vacation?

"It's closed, but the theater isn't locked." She stated confidently as she began putting on her boots.

"_That's_ where you've been going? To play piano in an empty theater? I should have known!" Jane rolled her eyes at the thought of Sadie playing on the grand piano in the middle of an empty stage in an empty theater.

"Jane?" John knocked on the door as he opened it at the same time; he poked his head in and smiled at the girls, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." She answered. Sadie could see Jane's irritation being overcome with excitement for John.

"You two have fun." Sadie said as she stood to approach John. "Don't let her get tipsy this time." She whispered to him, he nodded and furrowed his brows together as if he was saying 'Yes. Yes of course.'

* * *

The University's theater wasn't anything to brag about, it was a small house that could hold about 250-300 people with an even smaller stage. The grand piano sat on stage left, just where it was many times before. Sadie dropped her things by the grand drape as she strode over to the right to turn on the lights. She turned on enough to light the stage, but not enough to blind her, the house was still dark and she liked it that way, it made her feel as if she was in her own personal bubble.

When she made her way across the stage again she decided to wheel the piano to the middle of the stage. It wasn't difficult for her at all; if she was back home she would have had to kick the wheels so hard that the lock would break off and she could move it. At least the quality of the theater didn't match its size: poor. She began to play again, this time letting out all the feelings she had felt over the past few days.

At first she was elated that things seemed to be going well she even sang with some of the melodies. She had every right to be happy, after all Sherlock had kissed her. Soon, her thoughts became dark; she began to think that perhaps she imagined the kiss. If he _did_ kiss her why would he have wanted to? Was she simply practice? Before their intimate moment they were talking about playing a game and pretending to seduce a woman. Before she knew it her playing was becoming as dark as her thoughts, she was pounding on the keys and her conscious mind made sure the thought of broken strings had occurred to her. She stopped, realizing that she could very well break the piano with the way she was playing. She had no way of affording that if the University had found out that it was her who broke them.

With a sigh she got up from the piano bench and went to retrieve her phone from her bag, her main goal was to check the time, but instead she found several missed messages from Jane and Sherlock.

She read through Sherlock's first;

**You were right. I'll tell you more when I arrive back. – SH**

** Your flat is locked. Where are you? – SH**

** The American was let free. Are you alright? – SH**

** Jane told me where you are. – SH **

She smiled at the thought that he may have actually been worried about her. She read through Jane's messages next;

**John and I had a great time! Im home now**

** Its getting late. Where are you?**

** Your boyfriend is looking for you! Im telling him where you are**

Sadie didn't bother to answer any of the texts, both Jane and Sherlock knew where she was and she wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. Instead she began to play one of her favorites, Pachelbel's _Cannon in D_.

She began to play, not noticing the light squeak of a door or the soft thud of footsteps behind her on stage left. There were two soft clicks of a case being opened, and soon the sounds of a violin began to mix with the piano. She didn't dare to turn around, she knew who it was, and she didn't want to ruin another perfect duet. When the song came to a close she let the last echoing notes of the piano evaporate into the air, still unable to turn and face him. Instead he broke the silence;

"The plan worked." He stated simply. She heard him place the violin back in its case before he walked over to the bench and sat down next to her. As another silence began to fall between them, Sadie played a simple melody with her left hand.

"Did it go well?" she inquired, as she let the melody fall silent.

"Yes, very well. I broke the code and lives were saved." He said staring at the keys; his hands were in his lap. She noticed that he was distant, wrapped up tight in his thoughts.

"Did you _lose_ any lives?" she asked, hoping that it was the right question to unlock some of the thoughts that were bubbling around inside him.

"Perhaps one." He simply said, she was afraid to push him any farther, but did anyway.

"Irene?" he sighed and looked at her for a moment.

"The Woman was working for Moriarty, he'll have her killed." Sadie could see the pain in his eyes when he said this. He was truly upset about the thought of her being executed because of him.

"Who's Moriarty and what does he have to do with you?" she asked, still puzzled as to who exactly he was.

"He likes to be called a consulting criminal. He wants…to burn me, to burn the heart out of me." He looked away from her, back down to his hands.

"Don't let him." She said with a shrug, knowing that it would catch his attention. She began to play her simple melody again. He looked at her and knitted his eyebrows together. He was shocked that she was able to dismiss something like that. She smirked and stopped playing, "He wants to burn the heart out of you. Don't let him, don't let him kill Irene. I know that it's bothering you because you used her and now she's going to die because of that." She paused for a moment, "You're Sherlock, you'll figure something out."

"What are you studying for again?" he asked, quickly changing the subject to her school studies.

"Journalism." Sherlock smiled at her answer,

"Perhaps detective would be a more fitting career." She blushed, but still declined. Journalism and photography went hand in hand and that's what she wanted to do. It was close enough to field work, but far enough away from hospitals and that exactly how she wanted to keep it. Hospitals made her feel nervous, like something bad was always going to happen.

"Sherlock," she starting, knowing that her question was going back to a topic that he probably didn't want to discuss, "why do you insist on calling her The Woman when you know her name?"

"Our relationship was nothing but a game to her and to me; nothing worthy of a first name basis." He stated, standing, as he buttoned the front of his jacket. Then he leaned over and shut the cover on the piano keys. He rested his right arm on the cover and leaned toward her, "It's been a very long day, I solved a case, and it's late."

"Let's have dinner then." She said looking up at him with a smile. He smiled back and leaned in for another kiss, this time he placed his hand on the back of her head letting the thick curls of her hair to wrap around his fingers. This time she wasn't caught as off guard as before, she let her hands move up toward his head of soft curls instead of falling limp at her sides. When they pulled away his face was unreadable; she couldn't tell if she had crossed a line or not. Instead, he straightened his jacket once more and cleared his throat.

"You can always tell a good Chinese restaurant by inspecting the bottom third of the door handle." He looked away from her and out toward the darkness of the house.

"Then let's go." She said as she stood to grab her things. He smiled at her, relieved that he hadn't scared her off.

No, he never 'had' anyone before, but that didn't mean he was incapable of loving and that certainly didn't mean that he couldn't start now. Sadie was nothing like the other women in his life, yes, she wore her heart on her sleeve, but she didn't show all her feelings at once. Like him, she could see people, like him, she knew loss.

It was only then that Sherlock realized that he wanted her to keep helping with the cases.

It was then that Sherlock realized that he perhaps even wanted her as a permanent fixture in his life.

* * *

_OOOOKAAAAYYY!_  
_Did you guys like it? Dont worry their relationship wont ruin the cases or the story line (too much)._  
_Revews are always welcome. Again, sorry this took so long!_  
_Up next is The Hound (which is my favorite episode!)_  
_Thanks again!_


	11. Many Apologies

Hello all!

I'm sending many, _MANY_ apologies your way for not being able to update as much as I would have liked. My computer has suddenly decided to not work anymore and is refusing to let me log onto sites such as FanFicton, Twitter, and Facebook. I believe that it more than likely has a virus and I will be getting it fixed as soon as possible. (I've momentarily commandeered my brother's laptop and I'm using it for this sole purpose of keeping everyone informed that I have not died, nor forgotten about this story.)

That being said, I do have a few nice chapters that I will be uploading before the second week in July. I hope everyone likes them and great thank you to those of you who are reading this and are willing to stick around with me until then!

Thanks again for being wonderful and for not getting sick of my writing (and babblings)!

- Sarah


	12. Chapter 8 (Pt I)

PHEW! Okay, so these next few installments of this chapter are going to be a bit lengthy...sorry...  
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy them!

* * *

"Hey John?" Jane called poking her head into 221B. John looked away from the laptop in his hands and raised his brows when he noticed that she was hiding something. "I need your help." Jane hesitantly took a step into the flat, holding the pieces of Sadie's camera in her hands.

"Oh." John breathed, quickly closing his laptop and rising from his seat, "How did you manage this?" he took the broken camera in his hands and gingerly placed the pieces on the table between the windows; as he did, he inspected each piece for any damage that couldn't be repaired.

"Our flat's a mess, Sadie's always at the University and when she _is_ home she just plays on that goddamn piano and throw her things around. It's pointless to try and clean because she'll just come home and do it all over again." She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming her, she's usually not like this. I should have been paying more attention to what I was doing. I was irritated about the mess and when I went to grab my papers from under the camera the poor little thing took a nasty fall." Jane suddenly laughed, "I'm sorry I'm rambling, I'm nervous. This camera is her life and she's stressed out enough as it is."

"Well, the good news is that there's nothing _actually_ broken." He said putting his hands on his hips and looking at the inventory of parts, "Now we just have to figure this out." He said with an honest smile, causing his eyes to crinkle. He picked up the lens, inspecting it again and twisted it back onto the body of the device. He did this with each part as he slowly managed to put the device back together.

"Is it fixed?" Jane asked staring at the camera in his hands. John knitted his eyebrows together like he so often did and tried turning the camera on. The small digital screen flickered to life for a moment as the camera itself made a whirring noise before shutting back off. He glanced toward Jane trying to keep his cool, but he was beginning to fear that it was, in fact, broken. In a final attempt he turned the device over in his hands, removed the battery for a moment and then returned it to its proper compartment. He tried turning it on again, this time it made the same whirring noise and finally turned on properly.

"Has it always done that?" John asked looking at it quizzically, fearing the drop may have caused internal damage.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, it makes that noise sometimes when she's using it." Jane reassured. She took the camera out of John's hands and kissed him on the lips. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." He smiled, "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please." She said taking a seat in Sherlock's chair; she inspected the camera one last time before powering it down.

"Now," John began from the kitchen, "is everything alright?" he walked back into the sitting area and handed her a mug of black coffee.

"Yeah, thank you. Sadie, uh..." Jane paused, thinking of the right thing to say except there was no right or wrong answer. If anything, the wrong answer would be none at all, "this was about the same time that her fiancé disappeared, well, left her. She usually ends up hiding in her own little world and holes herself away from everyone because of it. I think it's because she's so scared of getting hurt again, especially now." Jane paused and took a sip of her drink, "I've literally tried every option for her; from therapists to a girl's day out, but it doesn't stop her from thinking about him. I found that if I just leave her alone she'll come around eventually; she always does. She's always had it rough when it comes to relationships. She's had two relationships that I know of, the first man cheated and her fiancé, whom everyone thought he died when he went to war."

"And what do you think?" John inquired as he leaned back into his chair.

"I-" Jane paused, looking down at the camera in her lap; she shifted her feet, wondering if she should tell the truth.

"You can trust me, Jane." He soothed. She stared at her toes again, wiggling them thoughtlessly.

"He left her." She asserted, "It was our first real year of college. I mean, we took two years off, three for her actually which is _crazy_. Anyway, the one evening I was out late at the library and I saw Michael, her fiancé, there. I was furious. Three years after he leaves without even a letter, he comes back and doesn't even _tell_ her. I approached him and you know what he told me? He said that he still wanted to marry her even though he knew all the pain he caused. I told him no; I couldn't let her be with someone like that. _Three years_ he made her wait, no letter, no calls, nothing. When I asked him why, he claimed that 'words couldn't express my feelings for her'." Jane rolled her eyes "So I told him that he either had to tell her the truth or to never come back. So he left, he fucking left. He didn't have the balls to tell his _fiancée_ that he didn't care enough to write or call. He didn't even have the decency to actually break it off with her!" Jane stared down at her mug and gave a small huff.

"Does Sadie know any of this?" John asked leaning toward her.

"No, I never told her. It wasn't my-" before Jane could finish her sentence she heard the front door slam shut and heavy footsteps come bounding toward 221B. On any other day Sherlock would have waltzed in and given her a stern look that said 'get out of my chair', but when she looked toward the doorway she was shocked to see him covered head to toe in blood.

"Well that was tedious." Sherlock said tapping his fingers on the harpoon in his hand. He eyed Jane for a moment before looking at John.

"You went on the tube like that?" John asked in almost a scolding tone.

"None of the cabs would take me." He retorted though gritted teeth and then stormed off toward his room.

"Please tell me he just harpooned a pig and not a human." Jane said sarcastically.

"Hah, can't make any promises on that one." John rolled his eyes and grabbed his laptop off the side table. Jane looked back down at the camera in her hands trying to decide if she should return to her flat or stay with John. _He looks caught up in his work_ she thought looking back at him _maybe I should just excuse myself._

"I should probably be heading back." She said standing, "I don't want Sadie to come home and see her camera missing." She walked over to John and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you tonight." She winked as she walked out.

* * *

"How is it that you only know four people, but you always manage to be texting someone?" Jane asked between mouthfuls of food as Sadie's phone began to vibrate again. Sadie unlocked the screen and gave a sideways glance toward the man entering Speedy's; they had been the only two in the café until his arrival.

"I know more people than you would like to believe." She said typing away on her phone.

"Let me guess," Jane pretended to think as she shoveled nearly a half a plate of food into her mouth. "Hmm, could it be some friends from the University or from the theater? Perhaps that boy from Starbuck's who was eyeing you before?" Sadie rolled her eyes at the thought, "Oh, wait! I know, Sherlock!"

"Why are you so preoccupied with who I'm texting today?" she asked calmly, as she put her phone back down onto the table.

"I just wanted to know, you haven't been talking much this whole week." Jane shrugged her shoulders and checked the time on her phone.

"You know I don't talk much when I'm thinking. I'm not like you; I don't need to ramble off everything that crosses my mind." Sadie insulted. Her phone began to vibrate, nearly falling off the table this time.

"Are you going to answer my question or not?" Jane raised her eyebrows, "Who are you texting?"

"It's Sherlock. Okay?" She said starting to become annoyed. _At least someone was able to get through that thick skull of her's. _Jane thought sarcastically, but soon realized how huge of a step this was for Sadie. Normally during this time of year she wouldn't talk to anyone, not even Jane, and now she was out of her room and texting someone other than Jane.

"Huh." She said to herself, "Wait, no. Not okay. He never texts when he's on a case. Where are they and what does he want?" Jane pointed her fork at her friend who finally looked up from her phone.

She sighed and slid her phone over the table for Jane to see.

**I need your help again – SH**

** Busy.**

** We're in Dartmoor. Need you here tonight. –SH**

** I cant. I finals are coming up.**

** Think of it as a break from the stress. – SH **

** Im not stressed.**

** Yes you are. Its obvious. – SH**

** No.**

** Theres money in the false book on the mantle. The next train leaves at 4:15. Bring your camera. – SH**

** Im not taking your money. **

** John misses Jane. – SH**

"John misses me?" Jane said aloud. Sadie narrowed her eyes, unsure if Jane actually realized that Sherlock said that just to get them to come.

"We're not going." Sadie answered flatly.

"Maybe I should go just to check everything out." Jane grabbed her purse from the back of her chair and stood.

"No." Sadie retorted quickly, "We both have school. We both agreed we weren't going to get involved with these two. Now you're just going to run off to Dartmoor and work on a case? Please."

"It's a little too late to be worried about association at this point, don't you think?" Jane said standing from the table, "I'm going and I'll use Sherlock's money too. If I leave now, I can easily make the 4:15 train. I'm sick of the way you've been acting; either smile and come with me or stay here and wallow in your grief. I don't care." With that, she left, not waiting for an answer.

By the time Jane had found the money and returned to 221C Sadie had already packed a small bag for herself and was laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I'm not letting you run off to Dartmoor alone." Sadie stated, not looking away from her fixed point on the ceiling, "Its bad enough those two have to watch out for one another, the last thing they need is to babysit you too." She sat up and smiled a large, fake smile.

"What?" Jane asked confused.

"Is this a good enough smile for you?" she inquired sarcastically, referring to Jane's earlier ultimatum.

"Don't be rude." Jane chided and realized how much she was starting to sound like John.

"Just think of it as a little just desserts for dropping my camera." She said smirking, Jane turned, unable to hide the shock in her face, "Oh you think I didn't notice? The lens wasn't even put back on right."

* * *

**We're out on the moor. Bring your camera and follow the trail. - SH **

Was the only message she had received from Sherlock for the rest of the day. By the time the two girls had made it to the Inn it was just before nine at night.

"Its really dark." Jane said, stating the obvious, "How are we supposed to find them in the forest?"

"Normally people bring flashlights." Sadie retorted as she trudged ahead of her friend. Jane pulled a map out of her pocket and began to study it without falling behind.

"I'm not sure they went this way." She said stopping to look behind her, in the distance she saw rolling hills and some trees scattered about, but no sign of the two men. "Maybe the man at the Inn was wrong; he did say he heard it from the tour guide." Jane turned back to her friend, only to find that she was now very alone. "Sadie?" she asked, taking a step forward looking for any sign of her flash light. "Sadie?!" she called again, but the only sound she heard was leaves rustling in the wind. Not wanting to fall further behind, Jane followed the trail ahead into the darkness.

* * *

Sadie hadn't turned around to check if her friend was still following. The entire walk out to the moor she had disregarded her rambling on about how they were probably going the wrong way. Instead, Sadie remained focused on the trail and followed it until it slowly disappeared under her feet. She turned to Jane, but was surprised when she realized that she was very alone.

_She'll be fine;_ she thought with a heavy breath, _she has a map and her cell._ For the next moment or two she was lost, but soon noticed some pockets of upturned leaves as if someone had taken a side step to turn and look back. She turned as well, mimicking the action she had thought was taken, surely enough she saw a number of danger signs that warned any trespassers to turn back immediately. She turned forward again knowing that if she had followed the signs she would be pointed in the wrong direction.

She slowly but surely found the way that the men before her had taken, she stopped when she reached an old hollow with a thick fog accumulating within. She stepped toward the edge and saw two flashlights flickering around below.

* * *

Jane continued to follow what seemed to be the never ending trail; she stopped ever so often and checked her map to see if she was in the right area. It proved to be little help. "Sadie?" she called in a speaking voice, not wanting to disturb anything that was in the darkness.

"Sherlock." A voice whispered not far from her. She jumped, but recognized the voice immediately.

"John!" she exclaimed as she quickly turned around on her heel. She saw another flashlight not far off from her and scurried toward it.

"Jane? What are you doing here?" he asked as she hugged him tightly.

"Sherlock invited Sadie and me along, but we got separated." She looked up at him with wide eyes, hoping that he wasn't irritated at her for coming along.

"Well," he said looking around, "let's hope she found Sherlock." Jane nodded and followed John.

* * *

Sadie began checking the area around the Hollow for and easier way down, but with no luck she decided on the side with a more gradual slope. Before starting her descent she took her from its bag, turned it on, and slid it around her neck.

"Sherlock," she called taking a step down the ravine that lead into the hollow, "Sherl-" a deep growling had cut her off. Her eyes darted toward the noise and then immediately to the men. Without a second thought she began clicking off photo after photo, she kneeled into the mud and took a final shot through a clearing of fog before the giant creature had run off.

She sat frozen in her place causing the cold mud to slowly seep into the cloth of her pants. _The fog,_ she thought _the fog blurred my vision. _She felt her body involuntarily shudder. _It's just the cold. You're fine._

"I saw nothing." she heard cut through her thoughts. She looked up and saw Sherlock quickly moving toward her; before she had time to fully rise from her kneeling position he had nearly tripped over her.

"Who are you?" the young man with Sherlock asked, "Why are you here?"

"Sadie Lawson. I'm with them." She said looking at the man about her age. She looked at Sherlock who was no standing beside her and looking at the edge of the Hollow. He glanced at out of the corner of his eye, unwilling to make eye contact. She nodded acknowledging the fact that he wasn't going to be doing much talking.

"Did you see it?" the young man exclaimed, directing his question toward Sadie.

"See what?" she retorted quickly and started to walk back up the sloping edge of the Hollow. "I just arrived." She lied.

* * *

"John?" Sadie called as he stormed out the Inn nearly running her off the pavement. He turned, took a sharp breath, and slowly exhaled. "Are you alright?" she asked, talking a step toward him.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." He clenched his fists, "Sherlock's just being…himself." He gave a nod, obviously still annoyed and stared out toward the rolling hills of the moor. "Why are you outside?" he asked noticing the laptop in her hands.

"I was going through the photos I took today. Jane kicked me out when she went to bed, so I came out here." she smiled, "Beautiful night, isn't it?" she looked up at the sky, admiring the stars.

"Yes," he looked at her for a moment, remembering the time she Sherlock had said the exact same thing "it is." He took in the cool night's air and began to calm himself.

"Well, I should be heading in." she took a step and paused noticing that John was staring into the distance, "Everything alright?"

"Yes. Excuse me." he said then trudged off down the hill. Sadie stood and watched him for a moment before heading into the small sitting area of the Inn. She silently approached Sherlock who was in the same seat as when John had left moments before.

"May I sit here?" she asked pointing to the leather lounge chair next to him; he gave her a sideways glance and gave a single nod.

She could tell he was affected by what happened earlier and took note of his behavior. He was blinking frequently, sweating, and touching his face; all signs of nervousness and stress. Sadie leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and pressed her fingers against her lips. She stared at the fire, unblinking, watching each lick of the flame waver and then dissipate into smoke.

"Where's John?" Sherlock mumbled from behind his hands that were still pressed in a prayer position against his lips.

"He went for a walk." She answered, still staring intently into the fire. She leaned back into her chair and crossed her legs; she was content with the quiet until Sherlock calmed down to his usual self.

He glanced at her every now and again, expecting her to tell him to calm down or ask what was wrong as women so often do with their male counterparts. Unlike John she gave no sign that she wanted to dissect the earlier events, but he did. He knew that she was there long enough to have seen something, if anything and she had her camera with her. He looked her way again, she was relaxed, legs crossed at the knees, eyes closed, her breathing was controlled showing that she was either relaxed or falling asleep. He noticed she had her laptop which had now fallen beside her in the chair.

He contemplated how she was able to be so relaxed if she saw what he had seen. That was only _if_ she was there at the right time. He stared at her dark curls that were loose around her face causing the light from the fire to give her pale skin an angelic glow. Her lips were in their usual soft pucker and he suddenly found himself wanting to kiss her again like he had done before, but he couldn't. He was on a case.

Sadie opened her eyes to find Sherlock staring intently at her, he seemed much calmer now and she smiled warmly at him. He didn't smile back instead he flicked his eyes toward the fire.

"I got something I want to show you." She said, opening her laptop, "What did you see today?" she asked quietly, not looking up at him. He didn't answer. "Sherlock." She said before sliding her chair next to his. "I can't show you what I found unless you tell me."

"A hound." He muttered from behind his hands again.

"That's all? What else?" she inquired. He blinked a few times before putting his index fingers to his temples; she could tell that she had set him off again. "Okay fine. I'll talk. You said you saw a hound, was it large? I don't mean like a Husky large, I mean standing at about the height of you." he lowered his hands and pursed his lips, giving a single nod. "Was it lean, with glowing eyes?" Sherlock stared at her wondering if she was mocking him, "No. You're right. Well, kind of." She spun her laptop around to show him the screen of photos. "I didn't get too many, and the first few you can't see much through the fog." she said clicking through the photos, proving the points she was making. "I do have this one though." She clicked the last photo, showing the gigantic hound that both Sherlock and Henry had seen. Sherlock raised his brows at the image and gave a sly grin at the computer screen.

"Brilliant." He breathed and without a second thought kissed Sadie on the lips.

* * *

"Greg!" Jane called rising from her seat. Sadie turned to see a very tan detective walking in the door; she was surprised to see yet another familiar face.

"Hey!" He said flashing a bright smile at the duo before giving a hug to Jane, "How are you?" Sadie ate the last bite of her breakfast wondering when Lestrade and Jane had the time to suddenly be such good friends.

"We're good," Jane answered with a smile as she tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, "we're here working on a case with John and Sherlock." _Flirting with a man other than John_ Sadie thought, _and older too._ She smirked at the thought and walked over to the detective.

"Ah, and where are they now?" he asked putting his hands in his pockets.

"Not sure," Sadie answered looking at her friend who shrugged her shoulders, "they left rather early so they should be back soon." Jane glanced out the window;

"Speak of the devil." She muttered, causing Lestrade to look out the open door.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" Sherlock yelled turning on his heel and quickly walking into the entrance of the Inn.

"Oh, nice to see you too." Lestrade answered sarcastically, "I'm on holiday would you believe?"

"No I wouldn't." Sherlock answered defensively, "How long has he been here?" he pointed at Lestrade and looked at the girls who were now sitting on the bar stools.

"Not long." Jane answered with a shrug and leaned back, propping her elbows up on the bar. Sherlock glanced at Sadie who nodded in agreement.

"Hello, John." Lestrade welcomed as he took off his aviators.

"Greg." John said with a nod and stood next to Jane.

"Well I heard you were in the area." Lestrade said glancing from John to Sherlock, "What are you up to? Are you after this Hound of Hell like on the telly?" he smiled at his joke and looked at the girls; Jane smiled back while Sadie was much less amused.

"I'm waiting for an explanation inspector. Why are you here?" Sherlock said disregarding Lestrade's questions.

"I've told you I'm on holiday." He retorted defensively.

"You're brown as a nut; you're clearly just back from your holi_days_." Sherlock snapped, making a series of interesting faces in the process.

"Maybe I fancied another one." Lestrade said. He was obviously already tired of the deductions at hand.

"Aw, this is Mycroft isn't it?" Sherlock rolled his eyes and gave a small stomp of his foot like a child.

"Now look-" Lestrade started.

"Of course it is! One mention of Baskerville and he sends down my handler to spy on me, _incognito_. Is that why you're calling yourself _Greg_?" Sherlock said a little too proudly.

"That's his name." John said pointing, glancing from Jane to Sherlock with his brows knitting together.

"Is it?" Sherlock squinted and looked at Sadie. She nodded, feeling embarrassed for him.

"Yes, you never bothered to find out. Look, I'm not your handler. I don't just do what your bother tells me." Lestrade defended.

"Actually," John started, as he dug a small folded paper out of his pocket, "you could be _just_ the man we want."

"Why?" Sherlock asked scrunching up his nose in confusion.

"Well, I've not been idle, Sherlock. I think I might have found something. Here," he showed the paper to his friend, "I didn't know if it was relevant. Starting to look like it might be. That is an awful lot of meat for a vegetarian restaurant."

"Excellent." Sherlock said with a sideways smile.

"My scary inspector from Scotland Yard, who can put in a few calls, might come in very handy." John said and quickly tapped the bell on the bar next to Jane.


	13. Chapter 8 (Pt II)

"Don't use that." Sherlock said covering the small bowl of sugar with his hand. Sadie looked up at him with her spoon in midair, confused and slightly angry.

"Why?" she asked gesturing toward him with her spoon.

"That's for Jane and John's coffee." He scooped two large scoops of sugar and dumped them into the mugs.

"Jane doesn't take sugar." Sadie said eyeing him; he knew that Jane detested the taste of sugar in her coffee.

"Neither does John." He whispered stirring the drinks, "Follow me."

"What's this?" John asked as Sherlock held out the two cups of coffee for him and Jane.

"Coffee, I made coffee." Sherlock said trying not to drop the drinks.

"Coffee? You never make coffee." John retorted as Jane took one of the mugs from him.

"I just did, don't you want it?" Sherlock asked softening his tone.

"You don't have to keep apologizing." John said, taking the other mug of coffee out of Sherlock's hand. After a moment he realized that he'd hurt Sherlock's feelings. "Thanks."

"That's very sweet." Jane said making a face after she took the first sip of coffee.

"We don't take sug-" John stopped, realizing that he had hurt his friend's feelings again. This time he took a large sip of coffee. Jane looked from John to Sadie, not wanting to have to drink the disgusting liquid. "That's nice, that was good." John said nodding. He looked at Jane and gestured for her to finish her drink as well; she did and the two placed their empty cups on the mantle. Once their backs were turned Sherlock leaned over slightly and glanced into the mugs.

"Are you going to tell me what that was about?" Sadie whispered to Sherlock.

"Not yet." he whispered and focused his attention onto the two men sitting across the table from Lestrade. Billy, the younger one with lighter hair, confessed to consuming all the extra meat that was ordered to the restaurant. Sherlock smiled, obviously mocking the man.

"Look, we were just trying to give things a bit of a boost ya know? A great big dog run wild up in the moor, it was heaven sent! It was like us havin' our own Lock Ness monster." Gary, the seemingly oldest of the three, explained.

"And where do you keep it?" Lestrade asked, not wasting any time between questions.

"There's and old mine shaft it's not too far. He was alright there." Billy said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Was?" Sherlock asked from his corner of the room.

"I couldn't control the bloody thing. It was vicious! Then a month ago Billy took him to the vet and uh, ya know." Gary answered between a series of sighs.

"It's dead?" John asked approaching the table where the men were sitting.

"Put down." Gary corrected glancing from John to Jane with sad eyes.

"Yeah, no choice; so it's over." Billy said unhappily, he avoided eye contact with them and instead stared at his hands.

"It was just a joke, ya know?" Gary defended leaning in toward Lestrade.

"Yeah, hilarious," Lestrade said standing from his seat, "nearly driven man out of his mind." With that Lestrade left without a moment's hesitation, signaling that he was done with the impromptu interrogation. John took another step forward unsure of whether to say something to the men or not, after a short moment he decided against it and left with Jane and Sadie at his heels.

"What are you doing?" Sadie asked turning once she realized that Sherlock wasn't with her. Instead he was looking in to the two mugs on the mantle again. He glanced from Sadie to the two men before ushering her out the room with a hand on her back.

"I'm working on a theory." Sherlock said in a low voice as they walked toward the exit.

"Which is _what_, poisoning our friends with sugar?" Sadie said sarcastically.

"Yes." He stopped and looked out the window at the three outside. She raised her eyebrows at him before realizing what his theory was.

"You think you were drugged?" she asked.

"It's the only reasonable explanation." He said and for a brief moment Sadie saw flicker of doubt flash across his eyes. She knit her brows together, pursed her lips and nodded in agreement proving that she was willing to help with his theory.

"So you believe 'em about the dog being destroyed?" Lestrade asked Sherlock when he and Sadie exited the Inn.

"No reason not to." Sherlock said simply.

"Well hopefully there's no harm done. Not quite sure I'd charge him with anyway. I'll have a word with the local force. Alright that's that then, catch ya later." Lestrade began to walk away from the group with a boyish smile, "I'm enjoying this, it's nice to get London out ya lungs."

"So that was their dog people saw out on the moor?" John asked turning to Sherlock.

"Looks like it." Sherlock agreed as he squinted his eyes from the sunlight.

"That wasn't what you saw. That wasn't just and ordinary dog." John said almost defensively. Jane glanced between Sherlock and John. She hadn't believed Sadie when she said that Sherlock saw a gigantic hound, but upon seeing John's reaction she was beginning to believe it.

"No, it was immense, had burning red eyes and it was glowing John its whole body was glowing." Sherlock looked as if he was reliving the night in the moor once again in his mind, then suddenly shook away the thought. "I've got a theory, but I've got to get back into Baskerville to test it." Sherlock started off toward the Land Rover and gave a slight wave, signaling the girls to follow.

"How? Can't pull of the I.D. trick again." John reminded him.

"Might not have to." Sherlock answered as he dialed a number on his phone, "Hello brother dear, how _are_ you?"

"Wait, so Sherlock _did_ see something in the hollow that night?" Jane whispered to Sadie.

"Yeah, he did." She paused for a moment finally realizing the next variable in Sherlock's theory, "I did too."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jane asked.

"I didn't think you would believe me." She answered as they reached the vehicle and got in. She lowered her voice and continued to talk, "I've always been the logical one in our friendship, but I did. I saw it, just as Sherlock said. It was gigantic, red eyes, and _gruesome_. It-it was missing its left ear as if it had been in a fight or gotten caught in one of the fences or something. The wound looked fresh too; I could have sworn that it smelled like rotting flesh." Jane looked her friend in the eyes; she could tell that she was frightened and ashamed for expressing her emotions.

"We'll get this thing." Jane could tell that Sadie was scared from what she had seen and Jane couldn't help but picture the terrible beast in her mind.

"I hope so." Sadie smiled and glanced at Sherlock through the rearview mirror, he winked at her before returning his eyes to the road.

* * *

Upon reaching the gates of Baskerville Sherlock glanced at the two girls through the rearview mirror, "I need to see Major Barrymore as soon as we're inside, Sadie you're coming with me. Which means John, you and Jane will have to search for the hound."  
"Alright." John answered with a nod, Jane gave little response. She wasn't thrilled about searching for a gigantic, bloody hound.

"The labs, Stapleton's first. Could be dangerous." Sherlock said as he looked out the windows watching the guards.

"Wonderful." Jane muttered under her breath.

* * *

Jane followed closely behind John the entire way through the main labs. In the first and largest lab she saw a number of cages covered with a canvas cloth; the same kind that she used to used to cover her pet rabbit's cage with to keep it calm when she was younger. This time, she realized whatever was in these cages must have been the size of her and she didn't want to wake them. She turned when she heard another set of footsteps to her left. W_here are they going?_ She wondered when she realized that the other footsteps belonged to a group of scientists leaving the lab. _That's odd._

"Where is everyone?" Jane asked John who had stopped a few feet ahead of her.

"I'm not sure." He replied knitting his brows together and glancing around the lab "Come on." He grabbed Jane's hand and started off in the direction they were initially headed. _That light is really bright._ She thought to herself as she briefly inspected one of the few lights that were still on in the lab. _It's probably because the rest of the room is dark._

"We shouldn't be going in here." She chided as they walked through a door with a 'Keep Out' sign taped on it.

"That's exactly _why_ we're here." John said opening the second door leading into another lab.

"I believe them." Jane stated as they walked past a series of pipes, "Sadie and Sherlock, they wouldn't lie. They're both very logical people."

"Yes, I know." He answered rolling his eyes.

"I'm glad you're not like him though. I wouldn't be able to handle it." She grinned as he opened up another lab door; this one with bigger cages.

Before the door even had time to latch shut, one of the large overhead lights turned on. _Did we do that?_ She thought as she pressed her palms to her eyes. Suddenly an alarm sounded, causing her ears to ring terribly. _That's not good._ She tried her hardest to squint in the bright light.

"Follow me!" John yelled and grabbed her hand, leading her across the lab to another door. But after trying the I.D. card several times the door remained locked. "Oh, come on." He said sounding more exasperated than ever.

Then, just as all the commotion had erupted, it had ended.

"Well that was terrible." Jane said as she rubbed her eyes, "Can you see?" she blinked rapidly, but it was no use.

"Uh." He said blinking a few times, "Barely." He turned on the flashlight in his hand and began searching the lab for whom or what could have caused the machines to go off like that.

"What was that?" Jane said breathed. For a moment she could have sworn that she saw a large dark figure pass between two of the cages; she slowly and silently crept across the lab to investigate. Upon reaching the cage where she thought she saw the shadow pass, she peeled back the canvas on the cage only to find a sleeping monkey inside. _Must've been my imagination._

"Jane? Was that you?" John whispered from across the lab.

"'Was that me', what?" Jane whispered back as she scurried to his side.

"I-I thought" he paused, "nothing." He shook his head, but then they both heard the sound of something walking outside the cages on the linoleum floor. The two flicked their flashlights this way and that, but couldn't find the source of the noise. Jane took a deep breath in an attempt to try and calm herself; _It's nothing. One of the test animals was probably moving around. _She took another deep breath and looked at John who was now approaching one of the cages. She watched him quickly pull away one of the canvas coverings only to find the cage empty.

"John, I don't like this." She whispered.

"Sh." He shushed. That's when Jane realized that John was just as scared as she was; his eyes were wide and his breathing had become erratic. She watched John from a few feet away uncover another cage only to find that it too was empty. He pulled back another excepting that too to be empty, but instead the monkey inside leapt against the bars of the cage and screeched wildly.

"John, can we go?" she tugged the sleeve of his jacket like a child.

"Not yet." He said walking toward one of the last cages against the wall. He didn't even need to uncover it to notice that the bottom corner of the enclosure had been bent open as if something very large had escaped.

Just then they both heard the deep growl, the kind that would rival a wolf's and Jane knew that it was not the noise of one of the monkeys. That was most definitely the noise of a hound.

"Come on." John said grabbing Jane's hand leading her back toward the first door. He quickly swiped the card, but like the door on the other side, this too read 'Access Denied'. John tried the card again and again, but with no avail he reached for his phone and called Sherlock. No answer.

"Try the other door again." Jane said, her voice shaking noticeably. John nodded and gripped her hand as they both ducked and scurried across the lab. With each step they took the growls seemed to get louder and the images of the gruesome hound flashed across Jane's mind.

"It's not working." John said defeated when the keypad flashed red yet again. As soon as the words escaped his mouth the growling became louder. John covered his mouth to hide his breathing and quickly scanned the lab for the nearest open cage. Once spotted, he put his arm around Jane's waist and ran toward it. _I'm going to die in a Baskerville lab. That's just __**wonderful**__._ Jane thought as she clung to John.

When the two finally made it to the safety of the cage Jane turned to see if the creature was following them; to her horrific surprise she saw the hound across the lab. It was just as Sadie had described, gigantic, standing almost six feet tall, with bright red eyes. Even in the dim light of the lab she could see the crisp edges of dried blood and ragged flesh where the left ear had been. She couldn't help but let out a soft whimper at the sight of the beast.

She looked at John and was about to ask if he had witnessed it too, but was cut short by the ringing of his phone.

"It's here; it's in here with us." John said between ragged breaths.

"Where are you?" she heard Sherlock say.

"Get us out Sherlock; you've got to get us out." John begged, as Jane leaned closer to hear the other half of the conversation. "The big lab, the first lab that we saw-" The hound growled again, this time louder than the last. Jane began to take slow, deep, controlled breaths so that she wouldn't raise alarm.

"John? John?"

"What's wrong? Are they alright?" she heard Sadie say on Sherlock's end of the call.

"Now, Sherlock, please." John's voice cracked, causing him to sound pathetic.

"Alright, we'll find you. Keep talking." Sherlock reassured.

"I can't it'll hear me." John whispered leaning forward to look through the bars of the cage.

"Keep talking. What are you seeing?" Sherlock asked, sounding even more concerned than before. "John?" he asked after a moment of no response.

"Yes, I'm here."

"What can you see?" Sherlock whispered.

"I don't know. I don't know but I can hear it though." John whispered, "Did you hear that?" he asked after the hound growled again.

"Stay calm, stay calm. Sadie and I are on our way. Can you see it?" Sherlock paused briefly, "Can you _see_ it?" he urged again.

"No, I can't, I think Jane saw it. I-" he suddenly paused and leaned back next to Jane, "I can see it. It's here. It's here." A large shadow the size of the dog passed by the cage twice and when the two thought their fear was its maximum, the lab lights flickered on and Sherlock was standing at the door of the cage.

"Are you alright?" Sherlock asked as he rushed to open their enclosure.

"Jesus Christ, it was the hound!" John exclaimed as he ran out of the cage leaving Jane momentarily stunned. Sherlock held out his hand to help her up. "Sherlock," John said as he caught his breath, "It was here, I swear it, Sherlock. It must be here." He said as he started to wander around in circles unable to form a logical sentence. Jane stood and stared at Sherlock in a daze, she couldn't quite figure out how they hadn't seen the hound if they came in any of the doors. _How did it pass them? It stands at the same height as Sherlock._

"It's alright. It's okay now." Sherlock said, trying to calm his friend.

"NO IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT OKAY! I saw it, I was drugged!" John screamed. Jane was suddenly becoming dizzy and started to sway back and forth.

"Drugged?" She mumbled. Sadie looked at her friend and put her arm around her shoulders in an attempt to steady her.

"Well let's not jump to conclusions." Sherlock said with a sly grin.

"_Sherlock_." Sadie said in a chiding tone. He glanced at her for a moment and saw how pale Jane had grown.

"What did you see?" He asked John.

"The hound." John answered shaking his head, still visibly upset.

"Huge, red eyes?" Sherlock pressed on.

"Yes." John nodded, beginning to steady himself and regain his composure.

"Glowing?"

"Yeah." He nodded again.

"No." Sherlock straightened his back and smiled in triumph.

"What?" John squinted at Sherlock in confusion.

"I made up the bit about glowing." Sherlock admitted.

"I didn't see it glowing either. It _was_ missing its left ear, like you said." Jane said leaning against one of the lab tables Sadie's arm still firmly around her shoulders.

"I made the whole thing up. I never saw anything specific, only a large looming shape across the hollow." Sadie said, "We, er, Sherlock was working on a theory."

"You saw what you wanted to see, because I told you, _she_ told you." He looked toward Jane and then back at John, "You've been drugged, we have _all_ been drugged."

"Drugged." John repeated in a whisper.

"Can you walk?" Sherlock asked John.

"Of course I can walk." He answered.

"Jane, can you walk?" he turned to the now very pale girl, she shook her head slowly.

"I think I'm-" she didn't have time to finish her sentence before vomiting the entire contents of her stomach into the nearest trash bin. Sadie knelt down beside her and pushed her blond hair away from her face. After an awkward moment of Jane half coughing and half groaning into the bin she looked up at Sherlock; "Yeah. _Now_ I can walk."


	14. Chapter 8 (Pt III)

"The rabbit was _glowing_." Jane muttered in her seat next to John, "How did you even _do_ that?"

"It was the GFP gene from a jellyfish." Stapleton said with a small, proud smile.

"What?" John asked sitting up from his slumped position.

"In the rabbits." Stapleton repeated.

"Oh, yes." He nodded and slumped back down.

"I call her Victoria if you really want to know." Stapleton continued, this time talking more _at_ them than _to_ them.

"Why?" John asked knitting his brows together.

"Why not?" Stapleton smiled like she had done earlier, it was as if she was congratulating herself on another small victory for science.

"Because it's a test subject; you'd be lucky if it lived longer than a month." Jane pointed out as she took a sip of her tea, nearly elbowing Sadie in the process.

"We don't ask questions like that here, it isn't done. It was a mix-up anyway, my daughter ended up with one of the lab specimens, so poor Bluebell had to go." The woman shrugged and looked at Sadie who was intently watching Sherlock work with a plethora of petri dishes.

"Your compassion is overwhelming." John said not sounding quite as honest as he truly was.

"Yet endearing." Jane reassured with a gentle smile.

"I know; I hate myself sometimes." She admitted. Sadie eyed her for a moment before returning her gaze back to Sherlock, but her ears remained pinned onto their conversation.

"So come on then, trust me, I'm a doctor. What else have you got hidden away up here?" John waved his hand around the room gesturing to the rest of the labs.

"Listen, if you can imagine it, someone is probably doing it somewhere. Course they are." Stapleton shrugged at the thought.

"Wait, like cloning?" Jane asked raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, yes of course. Dolly the sheep, remember?" Jane did, she had read an article on it in one of her classes.

"_Human_ cloning?" John specified, Sadie glanced back at the three, now with more interest in their conversation.

"Why not?" Stapleton rhetorically asked.

"What about animals? Not sheep, _big_ animals." He inquired.

"Size isn't a problem, not at all. The only limits are ethics and the law and those things can be very flexible. Not here not at Baskerville." Stapleton explained.

"Not there! Nothing there!" Sherlock burst out throwing a petri dish across the room, letting it smash against the wall.

"Jesus!" John exclaimed.

"It doesn't make any sense." Sherlock to himself, but was still in a loud enough state of anger for the rest of the three to hear.

"What were you expecting to find?" Stapleton asked. She shifted on her feet for a moment, unsure of whether to approach Sherlock or hide behind John.

"Drug of course, it has to be a drug." Sherlock began pacing the room, "Hallucinogenic or deliriant of some kind. There's no trace of anything in the sugar."

"Sugar?" John questioned. Jane looked down into her mug of tea, remembering how sweet her coffee was earlier.

"Yes it's a simple process of elimination. I saw the hound; saw it as my imagination expected me to see it; a genetically engineered monster, but I knew I couldn't believe the evidence of my own eyes. So there were seven possible reasons for it, the most possible being, narcotics. Henry Knight, he saw it too, but you didn't John you didn't see it. Now, we have eaten and drunken exactly the same things since we got to Grinkin apart from one thing, you don't take sugar in your coffee."

"I see, so-" John started.

"I took it from Henry's kitchen, his sugar. It's perfectly alright." Sherlock admitted leaning on the table in front of the microscope.

"But maybe it's not a drug" John asked, looking from Dr. Stapleton to Jane and then back to Sherlock.

"No, it _has_ to be a drug." He insisted sitting back down in the seat he was in before, "How did it get into our systems? How? There has to be something, something..." he closed his eyes and began to think.

"That makes no sense." Sadie blurted out as she stood from her chair. Sherlock froze in his seat and listened, "Jane and I got here _after_ you and John, but I saw something that night. Granted I didn't see it in full detail, but it _was_ huge. John and Jane didn't see it simply because they weren't with us." Sadie paused and took a step toward Sherlock who glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "I _know_ I saw something, but I didn't eat anything after I arrived. So how could it have been the sugar?" she asked in a softer tone, knowing it would get through to Sherlock much better than yelling.

"…something buried deep." He mumbled "Get out." He pointed at the three behind Sadie.

"What?" Stapleton said, surprised.

"Get out; I need to go to my mind palace." He repeated. John and Jane rolled their eyes in unison.

"The what?" Doctor Stapleton looked at Jane then to John still very confused.

"He's not going to be doing much talking for a while, we may as well go." John answered as he rose from his chair; he then grabbed his jacket and helped Jane to her feet.

"His what?" Stapleton asked again as she followed John and Jane to the door across the lab. Sadie began to follow the group, but Sherlock grabbed her hand.

"Are you _sure_ you didn't eat anything?" he pulled her closer so that the others couldn't hear his doubt. Sadie was caught off guard for a moment and stared at him. His eyes were wide and almost childlike as he stared up at her; his body language had quickly changed from rigid to soft. That's when Sadie finally realized that he trusted her just as much as he trusted John.

"Positive." She answered nodding, he looked away from her and down at her hand in his. She glanced at John who was still explaining the mind palace theory to Stapleton and knelt down next to Sherlock. He looked at her again, this time not at her face but at the ring dangling around her neck. She noticed this and smiled.

"Sentiment." he mumbled in a deep voice, obviously engrossed in his own thoughts.

"One of the two reasons people do anything." She said, he looked at her and narrowed his eyes, "The other being fear." She stood and squeezed his hand before walking toward John who was holding the lab door open for her.

The four waited outside the lab in the hall; Jane, John, and Stapleton continued to talk amongst themselves, but Sadie was too taken by her own thoughts to participate in small talk. _If the drug wasn't in the food then where could it have come from?_ She wondered as she took a few steps away from the small, chatty group.

She thought of the photos she had taken and particularly of the final one where the huge beast was simply a dog out on the moor. She couldn't help but remember that the hound she saw was much larger._ Perhaps the fog distorted my vision. After all fog is low lying water particles and water has been used as a magnifier before. No, _she realized. That was highly unlikely, _the fear I saw in the two men last night was not something that could have been caused by water. _Sadie began to pace back and forth, letting her thoughts engulf her entire being.

_The fog, _she thought, _it _has_ to have something to do with the fog. _She thought of the leaking pipes she had seen when Sherlock had the cameras on John and Jane in the lab. _That's it._ She realized, _that has to be it, the steam escaping out of those pipes was the same as the fog in the hollow._

"I need to get into Major Barrymore's office." Sherlock said as he exited the lab.

* * *

"John." Sherlock called as soon as they entered in the office.

"Yeah, I'm on it." He answered and stood watch at the door, Jane did the same, not wanting to get in the other's way.

"Project HOUND, Sherlock said beginning to pace again "must have read about it, stored it away. Experiment in a CIA facility in Liberty Indiana." He said as he walked over to Dr. Stapleton who was sitting at one of the computers, "H-O-U-N-D." She typed as quickly as he had said it and hit search. The bar loaded for a moment before reading 'Access Denied'.

"I'm getting real tired of seeing that." Jane muttered thinking of the several hundred times the keypad said 'Access Denied' in the labs.

"That's as far as my access goes I'm afraid." Stapleton replied looking up at Sherlock who was beginning to pace the room again.

"Well there must be an override, a password." John said crossing his arms.

"I imagine so, but that'd be Major Barrymore's." Stapleton said.

"Password, password, password." Sherlock muttered as he strut into Major Barrymore's office, he sat down in the swivel chair and put his hands together in front of his lips as he so often did, "Describe him to me."

"You've seen him." Stapleton said leaning against the doorframe of the office.

"_Describe_ him." He said again, spinning around in his chair.

"Uh, he's a bloody martinet, a throwback the sort they'd have sent into sewers." Stapleton said honestly.

"Good excellent, old fashioned" Sherlock said before he jumped into his verbal thought process.

"Do we even know what caused these hallucinations?" Jane muttered to Sadie who had taken a few steps away from the office at this point. "It seems as if we are just jumping from one thing to another without actually solving anything." She rolled her eyes and glanced out the window down the empty hallway.

"The fog, I'm almost sure of it," Sadie answered, "but I don't know how." She glanced back at John who was walking away from the office to glance out the window one last time.

"So that's the password?" Stapleton asked Sherlock as he walked back over to the computer.

"No, a man like Major Barrymore first name terms would do." Sherlock answered as he began to type the name 'Margaret' into the search. He quickly deleted it and instead wrote 'Maggie'. The computer took no more than ten seconds to load before a multitude of images began flashing across the screen. The girls took a few steps closer, trying to read as quickly as the images were changing.

"Oh, no." Jane breathed, she remembered reading this in her psychology class; the use of fear in experiments. She leaned on the table next to John to get a better look.

"HOUND." Stapleton said softly.

"Jesus." John muttered to the right of Sadie.

"Project H.O.U.N.D.," Sherlock said, "a new deliriant drug which rendered its users incredibly suggestible. They wanted to use it as an antipersonnel weapon. Totally disorient the enemy using fear and stimulus but they shut it down and hid it away in 1986."

"Because of what it did to the subjects they tested it on." Stapleton added.

"And what they did to others, prolonged exposure drove them insane, made them uncontrollably aggressive." Sherlock continued and then trailed off.

"This is like a smaller scale Unit 731, from the Second World War." Sadie said still staring intently at the screen.

"So someone's been doing it again, carrying on the experiments." John pointed at the screen and looked at Sherlock.

"Attempting to refine them perhaps; for the last _twenty_ years." Sherlock narrowed his eyes at the computer.

"Who?" Stapleton asked.

"Those names mean anything to you?" John asked her.

"No. Not a thing." She answered after studying them for a moment.

"Five principle scientists twenty years ago," he paused and studied the photo "maybe our friend's somewhere in the back of the picture, someone who's old enough to be there at the time of the experiments in 1986. Maybe somebody who says cell phone because of time spent in America, you remember John?"

"Mhm." John nodded.

"Gave us his _cell_ number in case we needed him." Sherlock reached into his coat pocket and removed the card with the cell phone number.

"Oh my god, Bob Franklyn, but Bob doesn't even work on them I mean he's a virologist, these are chemical warfare." Stapleton shook her head in confusion and looked to Sherlock for answers.

"It's where he started then and he's never lost the certainty, the obsession that _that_ drug really could work. Nice of him to give us his number, lets arrange a little meeting." Sherlock said as he pulled out his phone and began to dial the number.

At the same time John's phone began to ring; he looked at the number with a confused expression and answered. "Hello? Who's this?" Jane was standing close enough to John to hear that the person on the other end of the phone was a woman. A light pang of jealousy rang out in her gut, she glanced at Sadie who was still staring at John. "It's Louise Mortimer." John said turning to Sherlock.

"Who's Louise Mortimer?" Jane asked, Sadie glanced at her and could easily see that she was jealous.

"She's Henry's therapist." Sherlock answered in a low voice, "Nothing to worry about." Jane nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"What? Where are you?" John sounded worried as he began to pace the room, "Right, stay there, we'll get someone to you alright?"

"Henry?" Sherlock asked as soon as John ended the call.

"He's attacked her." John sounded disgusted at the thought.

"Gone?" Sherlock inquired.

"Mhm."

"There's only one place he'll go to, back to where it all started." Sherlock quickly dialed a number on his phone, "Lestrade get to the Hollow, Dewar's hollow now and bring a gun."

"Jane," John said turning his attention toward her. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket with an address on it "go to Louise and make sure she's okay. Stay with her until I say, alright?" Jane nodded without argument.

"What about me?" Sadie asked raising a questionable eyebrow at John.

"No," he straightening his back like a soldier, "not if he has a gun."

"Jane, go make sure Louise is alright." She said and then looked at Sherlock, "I'm coming with you." He smirked and nodded.

* * *

The first thing the three saw when they reached the Hollow was Henry kneeling in the leaves with the barrel of the gun in his mouth. Sherlock rushed down the slope of the Hollow nearly losing his footing several times.

"No, Henry, no!" He hollered before he could even reach the bottom.

"Get back, get away from me!" Henry screamed as he jumped to his feet. He pointed the gun at the three of them, moving it from one person to the next.

"Easy Henry, easy, just relax." John said smoothly with his hand up to show that he wasn't a threat, Sherlock and Sadie did the same.

"I know what I am! I know what I tried to do!" Henry screamed again, lowering the gun slightly.

"Just put the gun down, it's okay." John continued still trying to calm him.

"No, no, I know what I am!" Henry screamed, pointing the gun back up at the three.

"Yes, I'm sure you do Henry, it's all been explained to you hasn't it? Explained _very_ carefully." Sherlock said taking a small step toward him.

"What?" Henry asked starting at Sherlock.

"Someone needed to keep you quiet; needed to keep you as a child to reassert the dream that you both clung on to because _you_ had started to remember. Remember now Henry you've got to remember what happened here when you were a little boy." Sherlock explained still taking small steps toward Henry, who had the gun pointed directly at Sherlock. Sadie held her breath and mentally prepared herself for the worst.

"I thought it had got my dad the hound ate the- oh Je-oh Jesus! I don't know any more! I don't-" he cut off his own sentence by putting the barrel of the gun into his mouth.

"Henry, no, please!" Sadie said as calmly as she could, but her voice had gone up two octaves making her sound nearly frantic.

"No Henry, Henry-" John started.

"Henry remember; 'Liberty, In'. Two words, two words a frightened little boy saw here twenty years ago. You'd started to piece things together; remember what really happened here that night it wasn't an animal was it, Henry? Not a monster:" Henry looked up at Sherlock with the look of wonder on his face "a man. You couldn't cope. You were just a child, so you rationalized it into something very different. Then you started to remember so you had to be stopped, driven out of your mind so that no one would believe a work that you said." Sherlock explained and with every word Henry became more and more calm. John used this sudden opportunity to coax the gun out of Henry's hands.

"Sherlock!" They heard Lestrade yell from above the Hollow.

"Better late than never." Sadie muttered under her breath.

"Okay." John soothed as he reached for the gun in Henry's hand that was now by his side, "It's okay, mate."

"But we saw it." Henry said again, as Lestrade ungracefully made is way down into the Hollow. He gave a nod in Sadie's direction acknowledging her presence, she did the same.

Sadie suddenly noticed that the fog was slowly creeping in around them. _That's odd,_ she thought, _I didn't see any fog on our way here._ She took a step away from their small group and saw the fog pooling heavily around certain corners of the Hollow. She began to wander a few yards away from the men. The thicker the fog got the heavier it seemed to lie around her face; she pulled her scarf up to her nose in an attempt to make it into a filter. Suddenly she heard the low growl of a canine near where her group was, she quickly turned and was about to run back when a large arm wrapped around her waist pinning her against its body.

"SHERLOCK!" she managed to scream before a large hand covered her mouth. She kicked wildly at her captor, but it lifted her off the ground and began to half carry half drag backwards. From where she was she could see Henry's figure crouching low on the ground and the other three facing away from her. With one loose arm she clawed at the hand on her mouth, she felt the grip loosen and she let out a high pitched wail before her captor started to drag her away more forcefully.

Sherlock spun around when he heard her scream and saw a large figure trying to drag her out of the Hollow; he ran over, and with one strong arm ripped Sadie from its grasp. Sadie quickly covered her mouth and nose again with her scarf before looking up at Sherlock. She stared at him in horror for what she was seeing wasn't the tall, dark-haired man that she had become so fond of, but instead was that of her former fiancé's. She stumbled backwards toward the group and watched as Sherlock ripped the mask off her captor, she recognized the man: Robert Franklyn.

"No!" He yelled; from where she stood she could hear the terror in his voice, "It's not you! You're not here!" he gripped Franklyn by his shoulders and flung him toward the group. "The fog," Sherlock realized, as he looked at the Franklyn and Sadie who were both covering their faces. "the drug is in the fog!" Sherlock yelled again. "Aerosol dispersant, that's what it said in those records-"

Sadie looked up at the edge of the Hollow and saw the gigantic hound prowling making its way toward the group. She couldn't believe her eyes; it was exactly how she had described it to Jane. Before it could get any closer Lestrade and John opened fire. All three of Lestrade's bullets missed, but as soon as John shot twice the dog fell limp.

"Look at it Henry," Sherlock said pushing him toward the body. Henry began to protest, but Sherlock still insisted, "Look at it." Henry reluctantly looked at the creature and saw nothing more than an underfed dog.

"You bast-" Henry yelled turning toward Franklyn. He paused for a moment then suddenly ran at Franklyn, knocking him to the ground and shaking him by his collar. "Why didn't you just kill me?" He screamed as both John and Lestrade pulled him to his feet so that no more harm could be done.

"Because dead men get listened to, he needed to do more than kill you." Sherlock said as he began speaking with his hands, "He had to discredit every word you ever said about your father and he had the means right as his feet. A chemical minefield, pressure pads in the ground, dosing you up every time that you came back here." Sherlock said practically twirling around in the middle of the Hollow, "Murder weapon and the scene of the crime all at once." He laughed with his arms in the air, "Oh, this case, Henry. Thank you. It's been brilliant." He dropped his hands to his sides with a beaming smile on his face.

"Sherlock." John said in a hushed tone.

"What?" he asked.

"_Timing_." John scolded, defending Henry who was still visibly upset over the ordeal.

"Not good?" Sherlock asked looking from John to Sadie who was standing near Lestrade.

"No, no, it's okay." Henry said once gaining his composure, "It's fine, because this means that my dad was _right_! He'd found something out hadn't he?" Henry approached Franklyn who was still lying on the ground. John side stepped between the two, "And that's why you killed him, because he was right and he had found you right in the middle of an experiment." Henry spat his words at him and still managed to get a few steps closer. Franklyn stood; realizing that if he didn't Henry would attack again.

Suddenly the dog behind them whined again and without a moment's hesitation John fired two more shots at it, giving Franklyn the opportune moment to run. Sadie was the first to see him make the move and sprinted as fast as she could after him, but the wet leaves caused her to lose footing several times. Once out of the Hollow she gained speed and realized she was no less than ten paces behind.

She sped up as fast as she could and suddenly noticed another figure not far off from her. She glanced at them several times, but couldn't figure out who it was. It was too fast to be John or Henry, and too short to be Lestrade or Sherlock. Once ruling out the four men she suddenly realized the only person left it could have been: Jane. Sadie locked her eyes back onto Franklyn and realized that his path was headed straight into the minefield.

"Jane!" she screamed, her legs were beginning to burn, "Jane stop!" her voice cracked this time.

Jane ignored her friend and made a sharp turn to cut off Franklyn, but almost immediately lost her footing in the slick patch of mud. She slid sideways and tried to catch her balance as best she could before falling ungracefully on her hip. Sadie ran to her aid and glanced at Franklyn who had now jumped the fence into the minefield. She heard the hollers of the four men finally catching up not far off from them.

"I almost had him!" Jane screamed as she sat up holding her hip. Sadie saw Franklyn pause and knew exactly what was about to happen. She pushed Jane down onto her back, covering her face with her own arm. The next thing they knew a loud explosion boomed out over the moor, the two were so close, they felt the warmth from the blast. After a moment, they heard nothing more and began to slowly sit up.

"Sadie!" she heard Sherlock scream, she twisted around, but saw none of the men.

"Are you alright?" Sadie asked as she gripped her friend's shoulders and pulled her into a sitting position. Jane stared wide-eyed at Sadie and began to laugh. "Why are you laughing?"

"B-because," she said, wiping the mud off her hands and onto her jeans, "this is exactly what we said we'd avoid and I nearly just ran _right_ into it!" She laughed again.

"Sadie!" the girls heard repeatedly, this time closer and more frantic.

"I'm here!" She yelled standing up and waving at the four who were now roughly ten yards away, "Jane is too." She added in a speaking tone as she helped her friend up.

"Are you alright?" Sherlock asked as he ran toward them; he looked her over twice before pulling her into a strong embrace. She was taken aback, it wasn't the first time he had hugged her, but it _was_ the first time he had in front of someone other than Jane and John.

"Jane!" John exclaimed jogging toward her, "I told you not to come. Why are you here?"

"Louise was fine, she was shaken up, but fine." Jane answered trying to wipe the mud off her jeans. She looked down, suddenly embarrassed that she had come.

"Are you alright?" John asked in a softer tone as he pushed a lock of hair out of her face.

"Fine, I'm fine." She answered with a smile and shook her head, still embarrassed.

"Ahem." Lestrade cleared his throat, "Well if ya don't mind. We should report this." He gestured with his thumb to the upturned dirt where the mine used to be.

"We'll leave that up to you, Detective Inspector." Sherlock said wrapping his arm around Sadie's waist as he lead the group out of the moor.


	15. Chapter 8 (Pt IV)

Since the night before, Jane had noticed a change in her friend; she was quiet more than usual. At first she had thought that she was falling back into the rut she had been in before they left for Baskerville, but this time it was different. _Maybe I'm just overreacting_ she thought to herself as she packed up the last few things from their room at the Inn, _a lot happened last night._ She smirked at the thought, _Still can't seem to believe that Sherlock drugged us just for science._

After scanning the room one last time, she grabbed her bag and walked down the stairs and out through the front of the Inn. She strode over to where John was waiting by the Land Rover.

"You're ready then, I assume?" he asked opening up the back of the vehicle for Jane's bag.

"Hm, what?" she asked, still lost in thought. John raised his eyebrows at her, "Oh, yeah. I'm ready." She handed him her duffel bag while looking toward the outdoor tables. She locked her sight on to Sadie who was quietly sipping her tea alone.

"Everything alright?" John asked noticing that she was staring at her friend again, "With Sadie I mean." He slammed the back of the vehicle shut and stood next to Jane.

"Yeah," she sighed leaning against the vehicle, "she's gotten quiet again. I thought this case would've kept her mind off it a little longer."

"She seems fine." He said looking at her, "Be happy it's not like before. At least she's outside and not holed up somewhere." He paused and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "I'll go get Sherlock and we should be off."

* * *

Sadie had been silent the entire drive to the train station and once boarded the train, she hadn't said much either. She was too caught up in her thoughts to have noticed anything else. She stared out the window and began to fidget with the ring around her neck once more; the train gave a rough lurch and started off back toward London. _What am I doing?_ She thought to herself, _I haven't thought about him this much before. I haven't imagined his face since we arrived in London._ She unclasped the chain from around her neck and stared at the ring in her hands.

The square, blue sapphire was dirty and one of the diamonds that framed the large gem was beginning to come lose. Overall, it was too gaudy and large for her taste, she hated it. The whole proposal itself was too over the top. He had taken her out to a fancy restaurant (that she thought cost too much). Then dragged her ice skating where they just happened to bump into a (too large) group of friends and family, it was then he got down on one knee. For any other girl it would have been the best moment of her life, but for Sadie it was the most frightening. She felt pressured to love this man that everyone seemed to be overly fond of. She had planned on breaking it off later that month, but when he proposed in front of so many people, she had no other choice but to whisper 'yes'.

Sadie was so caught up in her memory to notice Sherlock had charmed the woman next to her into switching seats with him. He sat down and watched her inspect the ring in her hand. She slipped it onto her left ring finger and sighed when it nearly slid right back off.

"What did you see last night?" Sherlock asked quietly and not making eye contact with her. She looked up at him with a dazed expression on her face.

"The hound." She lied and slid the ring back onto the chain. He looked form the ring, to her, then back at the ring and couldn't help but think of how it didn't suit her.

"I saw the way you looked at me." He said as he quickly shifted his gaze away from the ring when she looked at him.

"And_ I_ heard the fear in your voice when you yelled at Franklyn. You didn't see _him_, you saw someone else." She said sadistically, his eyes shot up at her and stared at her directly. He hadn't realized that anyone else had heard his reaction, "What did _you_ see?"

"I asked you first." Sherlock said in a mocking, childish tone as he tried to hide the fact that she hit a nerve.

"Why do you care?" she spat and stared out the window once more; forgetting to put the chain back on her neck.

"It's _obviously_ gotten you worked up." He paused, realizing that any form of argument with her would be redundant and stupid. "You haven't played with that ring since you arrived in Dartmoor, and besides, isn't that what I'm supposed to do?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"'Supposed to'?" she repeated his words and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Yes," he nodded his head forward, "a man in this position should care about his-" he paused dropping his head and letting the word get caught in his throat. Sadie realized what he was about to say and felt her heart swell.

"You don't need to say it." She giggled softly at his reaction; it was the first time she had laughed since they left Baker Street. He looked up at her through his mess of curls and slowly lifted his head back to eye level, "It's alright, Sherlock." She said gently, "I feel the same way." He pressed his lips together into a thin line and slowly exhaled, relieved that she had reacted well to the step forward in their relationship. He glanced down at the chain still in her hand and took it from her.

"Now," he began as he unclasped the chain and gingerly draped it around her neck, "what did you see last night?"

"I-" she paused and stared at her now empty hands, "I _thought_ I saw someone else when I looked at you." She shrugged and stared out the window again, "I thought I saw Michael." She mumbled; he nodded slowly, realizing that this was another sentiment aspect of her. Then, after brief moment of thought, he remembered that the deliriant used in the air the previous night caused the patient to become _afraid_, not sentimental.

"Okay," she said quietly, not realizing Sherlock's deduction, "your turn."

"His name's Jim." He paused and leaned toward her so that only she could hear, "Jim Moriarty."

"I've heard of him; he's in prison." She nodded, remembering some of the things that John was rambling on about after the case with Irene Adler. He had mentioned a man by the name of Moriarty a few times when he would talk about his blog.

"Yes," He verified, "but that doesn't make him any less of a threat. He likes to refer to himself as the Consulting Criminal," he started, "all he wants to do is play a game. He's manipulative and heartless, and even though he's behind bars we can only live with that false sense of security." He glanced at the other passengers; none showed any interest in their hushed conversation.

"And that's satisfactory for you?" she asked raising her eyebrows, surprised that he was satisfied with such an answer as false security.

"No," he said waving his hand in the air, "but, that's _not_ the point."

"The point is that you saw Jim, you're afraid of him, and I understand that." She said knowing that it was much more than that simple answer. She knew this man was powerful and was more than willing to manipulate people in order to get to Sherlock; he was going to test him in every way possible. She knew that was a proven fact the moment she found out he had strapped a bomb onto John and turned him into a puppet as well. "It'll be okay, Sherlock, I believe in you." She smiled and kissed his forehead. He looked her in the eyes before giving a singular nod, signaling that he knew she understood him completely.

* * *

Oh my gosh! Sorry these were all so friggin' long! (Except this one of course.)

Anyway! The Reichenbach Fall is up next! This one will probably take a few weeks since there's a lot of loop holes that Ill be working out, and through, so yeah.

Please stay tuned with me here? That would be great and wonderful. :) I will also be writing after the Reichenbach Fall episode, just to wrap things up and then it'll more than likely be FIN!

Feel free to review, comment, message me, whatever! Just play nice please (and by that I mean don't just say 'you suck!' Give me a valid reason why!)!

Thank you so so so much!

- Sarah


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